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File permissions
Each file and folder located in your account has certain permissions assigned. They define who is authorized to write, read or execute this file.
Once it is created in your cPanel, default permissions are assigned. In most cases, there is no need to change them, but certain installations or updates may require that file or folder permissions should be changed.
There are three types of access:
read: the file can only be read.
write: the file can be edited.
execute: the file can be executed as a program.
There are three types of user groups, these access types can be applied to:
owner: the owner of the file
group: other files which are in the same folder or group
world: anyone else
The access level is defined in numbers:
0 - no access to the file
1 - execute only
2 - write only
3 - write and execute
4 - read only
5 - read and execute
6 - read and write
7 - read, write and execute (full permissions)
The following permissions should be set in order for your files to be displayed properly in the browser:
For all HTML and image files, permissions should be set to 644 (or 0644). They will be readable by all the user groups but only writable by the user. These permissions are set automatically when the file is created.
For folders, the permissions should be set to 755 (or 0755). The folders will be readable and executed by others but only writable by the user. These permissions are set automatically when the folder is created.
For all CGI files, permissions should be set to 755 (or 0755). The files will be readable and executed by others but only writable by the user. These permissions are NOT set automatically once the file is created, you should adjust them manually.
It is possible to view file/folder permissions either via File Manager in cPanel or the SSH command line.
1. Log into your cPanel, navigate to the Files section and click the File Manager icon:
2. Move the document root of your domain name.
If you need to change permissions for the main domain name, navigate to the public_html folder. If you need to change permissions for the addon domain name files, move to the public_html/addondomain.com folder.
We have the public_html folder in our case:
3. You will be able to see currently assigned permissions in the right-hand column called Permissions:
4. To edit current permissions for a certain file/folder, right-click on it and choose Change Permissions. A related window will pop up:
5. Set required permissions for each user group and save the changes. It is also possible to use the same button in the File Manager upper-bar menu, the Permissions option:
1. Once logged into your account via SSH, run the following command to check the permissions assigned to files and folders in the current directory: ls -l
NOTE: You can also use the ls -alh command to get the list of ALL the files within the directory (even hidden ones) in a human readable format and with additional details.
2. To check the permissions assigned to files and folders in a certain directory (not the one you are currently in), just add the full path after the command:
ls -l /home/$USER$/destination_directory
where $USER$ is your cPanel username and destination_directory is the path to the directory you check permissions in.
You will get the following output:
3.
In the Linux shell environment permissions are expressed in the following way:
drwxr-xr-x
The very first character stands for the file type: d - directory. Next three letters represent the owner permissions (user ones):
r = read
w = write
x = execute
- = no permission
Normally, the Owner has all three permissions represented by rwx.
The next three characters define the Group permissions, and the last letters represent World ones. In place of ‘w’ there is a hyphen, which means that writable permissions are not allowed for Group and World.
NOTE: Checking and understanding file/folder permissions via the shell environment is mostly for advanced users. If you have no other intention than checking/editing file permissions, it is recommended to use the GUI cPanel interface.
