Using find, change permissions on files / directories

This document should help provide the necessary information to find specific files / directories and replace the permissions on a mass scale on a linux or unix system.

Replace the parameters in bold with your criteria.
Note the trailing semi-colon ";" after the slash "\" slash and yes there is a space after the last curly bracket "}"

find /directory -name \*.log -exec chmod "700" {} \;

Example 1: Search for file types within the /testing directory with an extension of .log and set permission to 600

find /testing -type f -name \*.log -exec chmod "600" {} \;

Results are as follows:

BEFORE
ls -al /testing/

-rw-r-----  1 root root    5017 2010-08-10 13:53 access.log
-rw-rw----  1 root root 1140632 2010-08-10 13:53 errors
-rw-r-----  1 root root 6950126 2010-08-10 13:53 security.log

AFTER
ls -al /testing/

-rw-------  1 root root    5017 2010-08-10 13:53 access.log
-rw-rw----  1 root root 1140632 2010-08-10 13:53 errors
-rw-------  1 root root 6950126 2010-08-10 13:53 mod_gzip.log

Example 2: Search for directory types within the /testing directory with a name of bin and set permission to 700

find /testing -type d -name bin -exec chmod "700" {} \;

Published: Wednesday, 10-Nov-2010 05:16:05 EST