What does the permission string lrwxrwxrwx mean?

when I cd to / and enter the command:

ls -ls

For some files/folders it gives output like

0 lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root   root         7 Jan 30  2018 bin -> usr/bin

So what actually is this lrwxrwxrwx?

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

2

@Kulfy I think the fact that OP provided ls -l in their question suggests they already know how to view permissions. They're more interested in the meaning of the output in this particular case of symlinks. So I don't think that's an appropriate duplicate
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

@Serg g_p's answer has the info OP is looking for, but I agree it's not a duplicate question.
– wjandrea
6 hours ago

@Serg The dup Q&A is generically orientated on meaning of permissions. If a question of lwrxwrxwrx (see /vmlinuz) like this is unique, would a question of dwrxwrxwrx (see /tmp/) be unique as well? If each combination of permissions is a unique question we can have untold number of what could be considered psuedo-dups. For example "What does permissions of dr-xr-xr-x for /proc directory mean"?.
– WinEunuuchs2Unix
5 hours ago

2

@WinEunuuchs2Unix While I agree the dup is general and should cover wide range, including this one, this question happens to talk about specific file type and the set of permissions lrwxrwxrwx is typical to all symlinks, which Zanna's answer covered very well in detail. If you feel like this should be covered in the linked dup, feel free to either post an answer or edit the existing ones there.
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

1

@WinEunuuchs2Unix That's a slippery slope fallacy. The purpose of the duplicates is to provide appropriate information, not cover everything, nor they are meant to prevent people from asking similar questions. I've already expressed my opinion - Zanna's post here does better job than what's covered in the link, and the questions differ somewhat. The rest may the community decide
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

|
show 3 more comments

when I cd to / and enter the command:

ls -ls

For some files/folders it gives output like

0 lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root   root         7 Jan 30  2018 bin -> usr/bin

So what actually is this lrwxrwxrwx?

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

2

@Kulfy I think the fact that OP provided ls -l in their question suggests they already know how to view permissions. They're more interested in the meaning of the output in this particular case of symlinks. So I don't think that's an appropriate duplicate
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

@Serg g_p's answer has the info OP is looking for, but I agree it's not a duplicate question.
– wjandrea
6 hours ago

@Serg The dup Q&A is generically orientated on meaning of permissions. If a question of lwrxwrxwrx (see /vmlinuz) like this is unique, would a question of dwrxwrxwrx (see /tmp/) be unique as well? If each combination of permissions is a unique question we can have untold number of what could be considered psuedo-dups. For example "What does permissions of dr-xr-xr-x for /proc directory mean"?.
– WinEunuuchs2Unix
5 hours ago

2

@WinEunuuchs2Unix While I agree the dup is general and should cover wide range, including this one, this question happens to talk about specific file type and the set of permissions lrwxrwxrwx is typical to all symlinks, which Zanna's answer covered very well in detail. If you feel like this should be covered in the linked dup, feel free to either post an answer or edit the existing ones there.
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

1

@WinEunuuchs2Unix That's a slippery slope fallacy. The purpose of the duplicates is to provide appropriate information, not cover everything, nor they are meant to prevent people from asking similar questions. I've already expressed my opinion - Zanna's post here does better job than what's covered in the link, and the questions differ somewhat. The rest may the community decide
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

|
show 3 more comments

when I cd to / and enter the command:

ls -ls

For some files/folders it gives output like

0 lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root   root         7 Jan 30  2018 bin -> usr/bin

So what actually is this lrwxrwxrwx?

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

when I cd to / and enter the command:

ls -ls

For some files/folders it gives output like

0 lrwxrwxrwx.   1 root   root         7 Jan 30  2018 bin -> usr/bin

So what actually is this lrwxrwxrwx?

permissions

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

edited 5 hours ago

wjandrea

8,44242259

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

asked 13 hours ago

idaljeetsingh

334

New contributor

idaljeetsingh is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

2

@Kulfy I think the fact that OP provided ls -l in their question suggests they already know how to view permissions. They're more interested in the meaning of the output in this particular case of symlinks. So I don't think that's an appropriate duplicate
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

@Serg g_p's answer has the info OP is looking for, but I agree it's not a duplicate question.
– wjandrea
6 hours ago

@Serg The dup Q&A is generically orientated on meaning of permissions. If a question of lwrxwrxwrx (see /vmlinuz) like this is unique, would a question of dwrxwrxwrx (see /tmp/) be unique as well? If each combination of permissions is a unique question we can have untold number of what could be considered psuedo-dups. For example "What does permissions of dr-xr-xr-x for /proc directory mean"?.
– WinEunuuchs2Unix
5 hours ago

2

@WinEunuuchs2Unix While I agree the dup is general and should cover wide range, including this one, this question happens to talk about specific file type and the set of permissions lrwxrwxrwx is typical to all symlinks, which Zanna's answer covered very well in detail. If you feel like this should be covered in the linked dup, feel free to either post an answer or edit the existing ones there.
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

1

@WinEunuuchs2Unix That's a slippery slope fallacy. The purpose of the duplicates is to provide appropriate information, not cover everything, nor they are meant to prevent people from asking similar questions. I've already expressed my opinion - Zanna's post here does better job than what's covered in the link, and the questions differ somewhat. The rest may the community decide
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

|
show 3 more comments

2

@Kulfy I think the fact that OP provided ls -l in their question suggests they already know how to view permissions. They're more interested in the meaning of the output in this particular case of symlinks. So I don't think that's an appropriate duplicate
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

@Serg g_p's answer has the info OP is looking for, but I agree it's not a duplicate question.
– wjandrea
6 hours ago

@Serg The dup Q&A is generically orientated on meaning of permissions. If a question of lwrxwrxwrx (see /vmlinuz) like this is unique, would a question of dwrxwrxwrx (see /tmp/) be unique as well? If each combination of permissions is a unique question we can have untold number of what could be considered psuedo-dups. For example "What does permissions of dr-xr-xr-x for /proc directory mean"?.
– WinEunuuchs2Unix
5 hours ago

2

@WinEunuuchs2Unix While I agree the dup is general and should cover wide range, including this one, this question happens to talk about specific file type and the set of permissions lrwxrwxrwx is typical to all symlinks, which Zanna's answer covered very well in detail. If you feel like this should be covered in the linked dup, feel free to either post an answer or edit the existing ones there.
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

1

@WinEunuuchs2Unix That's a slippery slope fallacy. The purpose of the duplicates is to provide appropriate information, not cover everything, nor they are meant to prevent people from asking similar questions. I've already expressed my opinion - Zanna's post here does better job than what's covered in the link, and the questions differ somewhat. The rest may the community decide
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

@Kulfy I think the fact that OP provided ls -l in their question suggests they already know how to view permissions. They're more interested in the meaning of the output in this particular case of symlinks. So I don't think that's an appropriate duplicate
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

@Serg g_p's answer has the info OP is looking for, but I agree it's not a duplicate question.
– wjandrea
6 hours ago

@Serg The dup Q&A is generically orientated on meaning of permissions. If a question of lwrxwrxwrx (see /vmlinuz) like this is unique, would a question of dwrxwrxwrx (see /tmp/) be unique as well? If each combination of permissions is a unique question we can have untold number of what could be considered psuedo-dups. For example "What does permissions of dr-xr-xr-x for /proc directory mean"?.
– WinEunuuchs2Unix
5 hours ago

@WinEunuuchs2Unix While I agree the dup is general and should cover wide range, including this one, this question happens to talk about specific file type and the set of permissions lrwxrwxrwx is typical to all symlinks, which Zanna's answer covered very well in detail. If you feel like this should be covered in the linked dup, feel free to either post an answer or edit the existing ones there.
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

@WinEunuuchs2Unix That's a slippery slope fallacy. The purpose of the duplicates is to provide appropriate information, not cover everything, nor they are meant to prevent people from asking similar questions. I've already expressed my opinion - Zanna's post here does better job than what's covered in the link, and the questions differ somewhat. The rest may the community decide
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
5 hours ago

|
show 3 more comments

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

The leading l indicates that this file is a symlink, in contrast to - which indicates a regular file, d which indicates a directory, and other less common prefixes.

A symlink is type of file which only contains a link to another file. Reading a symlink reads the real file. Writing to a symlink writes to the real file. cding to a symlink that is to a directory results in behaviour almost identical to what would happen if you had cd'd into the real directory.

The permission bits are displayed as rwxrwxrwx. All symlinks show these bits, but they are "dummy permissions". The actual (or effective) permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. You can get the real permissions (and file type) by running stat on the symlink, for example:

$ stat -Lc '%a %A' /initrd.img

644 -rw-r--r--

stat read file metadata

-L dereference (follow) symlinks

-c select output according to specified string

%a octal permissions

%A "human readable" permissions

edited 8 mins ago

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

1

No need to use readlink, just use option -L to dereference symlinks. You can do stat -L or ls -L.
– wjandrea
11 hours ago

1

@wjandrea awesome! thanks :D I edited
– Zanna
11 hours ago

1

ls also has a -L option to follow the link.
– Barmar
11 hours ago

@Barmar good point :)
– Zanna
11 hours ago

The actual permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. Um, not quite. This needs to be reworded. Symlinks are symlinks - you already mentioned they show dummy permissions that all symlinks show, and actual file is different from symlink. Nonetheless, good and detailed answer. +1'ed already
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

|
show 1 more comment

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The leading l indicates that this file is a symlink, in contrast to - which indicates a regular file, d which indicates a directory, and other less common prefixes.

$ stat -Lc '%a %A' /initrd.img

644 -rw-r--r--

stat read file metadata

-L dereference (follow) symlinks

-c select output according to specified string

%a octal permissions

%A "human readable" permissions

edited 8 mins ago

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

1

No need to use readlink, just use option -L to dereference symlinks. You can do stat -L or ls -L.
– wjandrea
11 hours ago

1

@wjandrea awesome! thanks :D I edited
– Zanna
11 hours ago

1

ls also has a -L option to follow the link.
– Barmar
11 hours ago

@Barmar good point :)
– Zanna
11 hours ago

The actual permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. Um, not quite. This needs to be reworded. Symlinks are symlinks - you already mentioned they show dummy permissions that all symlinks show, and actual file is different from symlink. Nonetheless, good and detailed answer. +1'ed already
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

|
show 1 more comment

The leading l indicates that this file is a symlink, in contrast to - which indicates a regular file, d which indicates a directory, and other less common prefixes.

$ stat -Lc '%a %A' /initrd.img

644 -rw-r--r--

stat read file metadata

-L dereference (follow) symlinks

-c select output according to specified string

%a octal permissions

%A "human readable" permissions

edited 8 mins ago

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

1

No need to use readlink, just use option -L to dereference symlinks. You can do stat -L or ls -L.
– wjandrea
11 hours ago

1

@wjandrea awesome! thanks :D I edited
– Zanna
11 hours ago

1

ls also has a -L option to follow the link.
– Barmar
11 hours ago

@Barmar good point :)
– Zanna
11 hours ago

The actual permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. Um, not quite. This needs to be reworded. Symlinks are symlinks - you already mentioned they show dummy permissions that all symlinks show, and actual file is different from symlink. Nonetheless, good and detailed answer. +1'ed already
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

|
show 1 more comment

The leading l indicates that this file is a symlink, in contrast to - which indicates a regular file, d which indicates a directory, and other less common prefixes.

$ stat -Lc '%a %A' /initrd.img

644 -rw-r--r--

stat read file metadata

-L dereference (follow) symlinks

-c select output according to specified string

%a octal permissions

%A "human readable" permissions

edited 8 mins ago

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

The leading l indicates that this file is a symlink, in contrast to - which indicates a regular file, d which indicates a directory, and other less common prefixes.

$ stat -Lc '%a %A' /initrd.img

644 -rw-r--r--

stat read file metadata

-L dereference (follow) symlinks

-c select output according to specified string

%a octal permissions

%A "human readable" permissions

edited 8 mins ago

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

edited 8 mins ago

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

answered 12 hours ago

Zanna

50.2k13132241

1

No need to use readlink, just use option -L to dereference symlinks. You can do stat -L or ls -L.
– wjandrea
11 hours ago

1

@wjandrea awesome! thanks :D I edited
– Zanna
11 hours ago

1

ls also has a -L option to follow the link.
– Barmar
11 hours ago

@Barmar good point :)
– Zanna
11 hours ago

The actual permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. Um, not quite. This needs to be reworded. Symlinks are symlinks - you already mentioned they show dummy permissions that all symlinks show, and actual file is different from symlink. Nonetheless, good and detailed answer. +1'ed already
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

|
show 1 more comment

1

No need to use readlink, just use option -L to dereference symlinks. You can do stat -L or ls -L.
– wjandrea
11 hours ago

1

@wjandrea awesome! thanks :D I edited
– Zanna
11 hours ago

1

ls also has a -L option to follow the link.
– Barmar
11 hours ago

@Barmar good point :)
– Zanna
11 hours ago

The actual permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. Um, not quite. This needs to be reworded. Symlinks are symlinks - you already mentioned they show dummy permissions that all symlinks show, and actual file is different from symlink. Nonetheless, good and detailed answer. +1'ed already
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

No need to use readlink, just use option -L to dereference symlinks. You can do stat -L or ls -L.
– wjandrea
11 hours ago

@wjandrea awesome! thanks :D I edited
– Zanna
11 hours ago

ls also has a -L option to follow the link.
– Barmar
11 hours ago

@Barmar good point :)
– Zanna
11 hours ago

The actual permissions of a symlink are the permissions of the real file it links to. Um, not quite. This needs to be reworded. Symlinks are symlinks - you already mentioned they show dummy permissions that all symlinks show, and actual file is different from symlink. Nonetheless, good and detailed answer. +1'ed already
– Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
7 hours ago

|
show 1 more comment

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