Novell® Linux Desktop 9 Administrator's Handbook

Chapter 8 Working with Files

This chapter focuses on working with files and builds upon the discussion of the Linux filesystem in the previous chapter. The topics addressed here include how to create files, change their characteristics, modify permissions on them, and remove them.

Working with File Permissions and Ownership

Permissions determine who can and cannot access files and directories, as well as what type of access the permission holders have. The first 10 characters of an ls -l listing of any entity resemble the following:

-rwxrwxrwx

The first character identifies the type of entity: “-” for a standard file, “d” for a directory, “b” for a block device (such as a tape drive), “c” for a character device, “l” ...