How can I recursively change the permissions of files and directories? - Ask Ubuntu

Just add the -R option to recursively change the
permissions of files. An example, recursively add read and write
permissions for the owner and group on foldername:

chmod -R ug+rw foldername

Permissions will be like 664 or 775.





Setting the permissions to 777 is highly discouraged. You get errors in either

 Apache or your editor regarding permissions because apache runs under a different user (www-data) than you.





If you want to write to /var/www, add yourself to the www-data group and set umask+permissions accordingly.

• Add yourself to the www-data group: sudo adduser your-username www-data
• Change the ownership of the files in /var/www: sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www
• Change the umask, so newly created files by Apache grants write permissions to the group too. Add umask 007 to /etc/apache2/envvars.
• Grant yourself (technically, the group www-data) write permissions: sudo chmod -R g+w /var/www.

How can I recursively change the permissions of files and directories? - Ask Ubuntu