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File Attributes

When you issue an ls -l shell command on a file, it gives you information about the size of the file, who owns it, when it was last modified, etc. These are called the file attributes, and are associated with the file itself and not a particular one of its names.

This section contains information about how you can inquire about and modify the attributes of a file.

• Attribute Meanings: The names of the file attributes, and what their values mean.
• Reading Attributes: How to read the attributes of a file.
• Testing File Type: Distinguishing ordinary files, directories, links...
• File Owner: How ownership for new files is determined, and how to change it.
• Permission Bits: How information about a file's access mode is stored.
• Access Permission: How the system decides who can access a file.
• Setting Permissions: How permissions for new files are assigned, and how to change them.
• Testing File Access: How to find out if your process can access a file.
• File Times: About the time attributes of a file.
• File Size: Manually changing the size of a file.