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

Posted by Nikhil on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Nikhil
Published on 2011-03-16T14:45:55Z Indexed on 2011/03/16 16:19 UTC
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Filed under:

10.10

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permissions

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apache

I have ubuntu installed on my local computer with apache / php / mysql.

I now have a directory at /var/www - inside which I have several of my ongoing projects. I also work with opensource ( drupal, magento, sugarcrm ).

The problem I am facing is changing file permission with terminal. Sometime I need to change the permission of entire folder and its subsequent sub-folders and files. I have to individually change using

sudo chmod 777 foldername

How can I do this recursively.

Also why do I have to always do it 777, I tried 755 for folders and 644 for files, but that won't work.

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