Unix file type

• Regular file. A common file which contains data in text or binary. 
• Directory file. A file that contains name of other files and point to information on these files.
• Symbolic link. A type of file that point to another file.
• Character devices file. A type of file use for certain type of devices(read-write data in one character). 
• Block devices file. A type of file use for certain type of devices(read-write data in block). 
• FIFO. A type of file that use for interprocess communication,some time call named pipe. 
• Socket. A type of file that use for network communication. 

Regular File

A regular file simply holds data. Perhaps the most common file type found in the Solaris Operating Environment are regular files, which allow you to store many different kinds of data. Regular files can hold ASCII text, binary data, image data, databases, application-related data, and more.

Directory file

Directories store information that associates file names with inode numbers. Unlike regular files that can hold many different kinds of data, directories can hold only one kind.

Symbolic link

A symbolic link is a file that points to another file. Like directories,symbolic links contain only one kind of data.  A symbolic link contains the pathname of the file to which it points.

File type & symbol

File Access Permission

The following example shows the use of the ls –la command to display permission file

Permission and Owner Command

• chmod  [–R]  permission filename 

                        Changes access permission of a file.

 

• chown [-R] username:groupname filename

                       Changes the ownership of a file. 

• chgrp [-R] groupid filename

                       Changes the group ownership of a file.