Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

umask

Synopsis

umask [-pS] [mask]

Display or set file creation mask. If mask begins with a digit, it is treated as an octal number; otherwise it is treated as a symbolic mask. The file creation mask determines which permission bits are turned off (e.g., umask 002 produces rw-rw-r--). The mask is similar to that accepted by the chmod command.

Options

-p

Output is in a form that can be reread later by the shell.

-S

Print the current mask using symbolic notation.