Permissions Required to Move File to Different Directory in Unix/Linux

Permissions required to move file to different directory in Unix/Linux

Actually, moving a file is either a rename of a file on a single file system or creating a copy and deleting the original (typically only done if the move is a migration from one file system to another).

In either case you need execute and of course write permissions to the target directory and the source directory. However, for a mere rename (and moving from one directory to another can be just that) on a single file system you do not need any permissions on the file itself. It can be cleared of all permissions and still you can move (rename) it (as long as you have write and execute permissions for the directories).

For a real copy (as it is needed when you move the file to a different file system), you need read permissions on the file itself. No write permissions on the original are necessary, as deletion of a file is not writing to it (but to the directory it is in).

Unable to move file in unix

Sorry silly error from myside.

Previously i have added the owner id to my group so it did not work.
Now i have added my id to owner group and it worked.

Thanks for the help!!

why can't I `mv` a directory without extra write permissions

I think the rename(2) man page has the explanation:

ERRORS
       EACCES Write permission is denied for the directory containing oldpath or newpath, or, search per‐
              mission  is  denied for one of the directories in the path prefix of oldpath or newpath, or
              oldpath is a directory and does not  allow  write  permission  (needed  to  update  the  ..
              entry).  (See also path_resolution(7).)

So apparently in order to move theirs into mine, you need to have permissions to update the .. link on theirs.

How to move a file out of /usr/local if I get Permission Denied?

Try this:

Check whether you have write access to the folder with

ls -l

Then you can try changing the ownership of the folder to your current user.

sudo chown -R your_username /path/to/folder

See this.

What permissions are needed to delete a file in unix?

You actually need read, write and execute permissions on the directory, not on the file itself since the operation is done considering the permissions effects of directories.

A good documentation can be found on this link, which mentions the below in the section Special Considerations on Directories:

To delete a file requires both write (to modify the directory itself)
and execute (to stat() the file's inode) on a directory.  Note a user
needs no permissions on a file nor be the file's owner to delete it!

Change all files and folders permissions of a directory to 644/755

One approach could be using find:

for directories

find /desired_location -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0755

for files

find /desired_location -type f -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0644

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