rwxrwxrwx

rwxrwxrwx is a symbolic representation used on Unix-like systems to describe file mode bits. It consists of three groups of three characters, corresponding to the permissions for the user (the file owner), the group, and others. Within each group, the characters r, w, and x indicate read, write, and execute permissions, respectively. A dash '-' indicates that a permission is not granted. In rwxrwxrwx, all three classes have all three permissions.

The numeric equivalent of rwxrwxrwx is 0777 in octal. Permissions can be set with the chmod command, for example chmod 777 filename, or using symbolic notation such as chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rwx filename. The execute permission has a special meaning for directories: it allows traversal, while read enables listing the directory contents, and write allows modifying the directory’s contents if permitted.

Security considerations are important. Setting.permissions to 777 makes a file or directory readable, writable, and executable by all users, which is typically undesirable on multi-user systems or exposed services. It is commonly avoided for sensitive files and scripts. More restrictive defaults are often managed by the system's umask, and common practices include using 755 for directories and 644 for most files, with more granular permissions applied as needed.

In addition to basic permissions, other concepts such as setuid, setgid, the sticky bit, and the umask influence how permissions behave in practice and how new files receive their initial mode. rwxrwxrwx thus represents the most permissive standard permission set.