rwx

Rwx is a term used to describe the permission bits in Unix-like operating systems. It stands for read, write, and execute permissions. These permissions apply to three categories: the file owner, the file's group, and all other users. A permission set is typically displayed as a string of nine characters, grouped into three triplets. Each triplet corresponds to one category and consists of the symbols r, w, and x, or dashes when a permission is absent. Example: rwxr-xr-- means owner can read, write, and execute; group can read and execute; others can only read.

The bits are stored in a file's mode. In practice, permissions are also represented numerically with three octal digits. Each position is the sum of its bits: read equals 4, write equals 2, execute equals 1. So rwx = 7, rw- = 6, r-- = 4. A common permission set is 755, where the owner has 7 (rwx), and group and others have 5 (r-x). To modify permissions, the chmod command is used; ls -l shows the current permissions.

In addition to basic permissions, special modes can modify behavior. The set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits (setuid, setgid) and the sticky bit affect how executables run and how files in shared directories behave. They are indicated in symbolic form with s or S and t or T, and in octal form add 4000, 2000, or 1000 to the permission digits.

Understanding rwx is fundamental for managing access control and system security in Unix-like environments.