Using nodejs chmod 777 and 0777

Question

Using fs.chmod(path, mode, callback) I set the mode to 777. It didn't work properly. But when I set it to 0777, it worked.

So I want to know what the difference is between chmod 777 and chmod 0777?

Answer 1

The leading zero in 0777 indicates that the number is an octal number.

The number 777 in octal notation is the number 511 in decimal notation. fs.chmod(path, 0777) and fs.chmod(path, 511) do the same thing, but fs.chmod(path, 777) does not.

The reason for your confusion is that you assumed the file access mode 777 is a decimal number. You might want to read more about the unix chmod program and file system permissions.