# chmod 750 — What It Means & When to Use It

> Owner can do everything; group can read and execute; others have no access. Symbolic: `rwxr-x---` · Safe when used as intended.

750 is 755 with the outside world shut out. The owner has full access, members of the group can read and enter, and everyone else gets nothing.

It's a good default for application directories that a service group needs to read but other users have no business seeing. Ubuntu switched new home directories to 750 in 21.04 for the same reason.

## Permission by permission

| Who | Permissions |
|---|---|
| owner | read, write and execute |
| group | read and execute |
| others | no permissions |

Symbolic chmod argument: `u=rwx,g=rx,o=`

## Use it for

- Application directories read by a service running in the owner's group.
- Home directories on shared machines.
- Deploy directories where the web server's group needs read access only.

## Avoid it for

- When the web server isn't in the group it will get 403 Forbidden — add it to the group, or use `755`.
- Regular files: use `640`.

## FAQ

### 750 vs 755?

Others. With 755 any user can list and read; with 750 only the owner and the group can.

## Related modes

- [chmod 755](https://www.devkult.com/chmod/755.md): Owner can do everything; group and others can read and execute
- [chmod 640](https://www.devkult.com/chmod/640.md): Owner can read and write; group can read; others have no access
- [chmod 700](https://www.devkult.com/chmod/700.md): Only the owner can read, write and execute
- [chmod 770](https://www.devkult.com/chmod/770.md): Owner and group can do everything; everyone else has no access

Open the interactive page: https://www.devkult.com/chmod/750