chmod 775 Permission Explained: Group-Writable Directory

Octal

775

Symbolic

rwxrwxr-x

Binary

111 111 101

Risk Level

Moderate

Summary: Owner and group have full control; others read and enter.

Class	Read (4)	Write (2)	Execute (1)	Octal
Owner (u)				7
Group (g)				7
Others (o)				5

setuid (4) setgid (2) sticky bit (1)

Octal

Symbolic

Target File / Path

-R Recursive -v Verbose

775

rwxrwxr-x

Owner: read/write/execute · Group: read/write/execute · Others: read/execute

chmod 775 filename

Moderate Every member of the group can modify this file.

View the full chmod 775 guide →

chmod 775 Breakdown

Class	Digit	Symbolic	On a file	On a directory
Owner (u)	`7`	`rwx`	Full access	Full access: list, enter, create, delete
Group (g)	`7`	`rwx`	Full access	Full access: list, enter, create, delete
Others (o)	`5`	`r-x`	Read and execute	Can list and enter

Is chmod 775 Safe?

Moderate

Every member of the group can modify this file.
Any user can read this file — never use it for secrets such as keys or .env files.

When not to use it

Single-user personal workstations and shared hosting without group isolation

Common Use Cases

Collaborative shared project directories for engineering teams
Web document roots where developers share update access with the web server group

chmod 775 Command Examples

# Apply using octal mode
chmod 775 filename

# Apply using equivalent symbolic mode
chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rx filename

# Recursive command warning:
chmod -R 775 /path/to/dir
# Note: -R applies the same mode to files and directories. Use find to treat them separately:
find /path/to/dir -type d -exec chmod 775 {} +

# Verify permissions
stat -c '%a %A %n' filename    # Linux
stat -f '%Lp %Sp %N' filename   # macOS

# Example ls -l output:
-rwxrwxr-x 1 alice staff 1024 Jan 15 10:00 example.txt

umask Relationship

A umask of 002 makes new directories 775. Test umask values with our interactive Umask Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does chmod 775 mean?

Owner and group have full control; others read and enter. In octal notation, the owner receives 7 (read/write/execute), the group receives 7 (read/write/execute), and others receive 5 (read/execute).

Is chmod 775 safe?

chmod 775 is classified as Moderate. Every member of the group can modify this file.

What is chmod 775 in symbolic notation?

In symbolic notation, chmod 775 is represented as rwxrwxr-x. You can apply this permission using the equivalent symbolic command "chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rx filename".