Make a file Executable

2016

Unlike Windows, Linux does not have files that are executable, all files can have this attribute. So for example, I have a python file that is just a text file, and I will to be able to run this from the command line, If I look at the file using ls -al:

ls -al

I will see something like this:

"-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 4452 Jul 25 17:46 40x2_LCD.py"

The permissions for this file are:

"-rw-r--r--"

This file has three sets of permissions:

User -rw | Group -r- | Others r--
where r is read - w is write - x is execute

I will cover permissions in another section, to give this file 'everything' use the following:

chmod 777 40x2_LCD.ph

If we look at the permissions now by using:

ls -al

We will see:

"-rwxrwxrwx"

Now we can execute this file (assuming it contains something valid that is executable)

./40x2_LCD.ph

The file will now be executed.