bash$ ls -al total 48 drwx------ 4 bob bob 4096 Feb 26 10:33 . drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Feb 26 10:33 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 bob bob 24 Feb 26 10:33 .bash_logout -rw-r--r-- 1 bob bob 224 Feb 26 10:33 .bash_profile -rw-r--r-- 1 bob bob 124 Feb 26 10:33 .bashrc -rw-r--r-- 1 bob bob 5450 Feb 26 10:33 .canna drwxr-xr-x 2 bob bob 4096 Feb 26 10:33 Desktop -rw-r--r-- 1 bob bob 747 Feb 26 10:33 .emacs drwxr-xr-x 3 bob bob 4096 Feb 26 10:33 .kde -rw-r--r-- 1 bob bob 3728 Feb 26 10:33 .screenrc -r--r--r-- 1 bob bob 1019 Feb 26 10:33 .wl
In this directory the file .emacs has a string of 10 characters at the beginning of the line. The first character is where you would have information about what type of file this is. The d character stands for directory. The l character stands for symbolic link. After the first character there are nine characters left. These nine characters are split into three groups of three. The first three characters are the permissions for the owner. The next three are the permissions for the files group, and the last set of permissions are the permissions for everyone else on the system. (Everyone else on the system includes the users like apache the web server.)
Each set of three characters are split into three permissions read, write, and execute. These are marked with a letter if the permission is available or marked with a dash if the permission is not set.