644
Octal
rw-r--r--
Symbolic
Safe
Security
What does chmod 644 mean?
chmod 644 gives owner read/write, everyone read. The standard permission for regular files: the owner can edit, everyone else can read. Use it for HTML, CSS, JS, images, PHP files on most hosts and documents in home directories.
| Who | Digit | Symbolic | Permissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner (user) | 6 | rw- | read, write |
| Group | 4 | r-- | read |
| Others | 4 | r-- | read |
Each digit is the sum of read (4), write (2) and execute (1). In ls -l the file shows as -rw-r--r--.
How to use chmod 644
# one file or directory
chmod 644 filename
# the same permissions in symbolic form
chmod u=rw,g=r,o=r filename
# a directory and everything inside it
chmod -R 644 directory/
# only regular files
find path/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} +On web servers the usual combination is 755 for directories and 644 for files. Avoid chmod -R 755 on everything — it makes every file executable. Use the two find commands instead.
Need a different combination? Tick the boxes in the chmod calculator to get the octal and symbolic values instantly.
Chmod calculatorToggle read, write and execute for owner, group and others to build any permission.
Open the calculator Frequently asked questions
What does chmod 644 do?
It sets the permissions to rw-r--r--: the owner gets read, write, the group read and others read.
What is 644 in symbolic notation?
rw-r--r--, or chmod u=rw,g=r,o=r as a symbolic chmod command.Is chmod 644 safe?
Yes, 644 does not give write access to other users.