Displaying file permissions

The ls command with the -l (long listing) flag shows which permissions are set for any file, in the format rwxrwxrwx where

• the three groups of rwx from left to right display the permissions granted to user, group, and other respectively
• r stands for read permission, w for write, and x for execute
• any permission that is not granted is replaced by -
• the x is replaced by s if set-id permission is granted for user or group, and by t for other.