Need help displaying file/folder permissions in clear text

Solution 1:

This script will do the trick (I called the script filestat - put it in your path):

#!/bin/bash

# Iterate over each argument
for file in "$@"; do
  perm_type=('User' 'Group' 'Other')
  (( j = 0 ))

  # Check if file exists
  if [[ -e "$file" ]]; then

    # Print filename
    echo -e "\nFilename: $file"

    # Isolate permission octet
    perm_octet=$( stat -c "%a %n" "$file" | cut -d ' ' -f 1 )

    # Add each value of octet to array
    perm_array=()
    for (( i = 0; i < "${#perm_octet}"; i++ )); do
      perm_array+=("${perm_octet:$i:1}")
    done

    # Iterate over array
    for x in "${perm_array[@]}"; do

      # Print permission type and increase counter
      echo -n "${perm_type[$j]} permission: "
      (( j++ ))

      # Check if permission is zero (none), print and start next iteration
      if (( "$x" == 0 )); then
        echo "NONE "
        continue
      fi

      # Check if permission has "read", print and subtract 4
      if (( "$x" > 3 )); then
        echo -n "read "
        (( x = x - 4 ))
      fi

      # Check if permission has "write", print and subtract 2
      if (( "$x" > 1 )); then
        echo -n "write "
        (( x = x - 2 ))
      fi

      # Check if permission has "execute", print and subtract 1
      if (( "$x" > 0 )); then
        echo -n "execute "
        (( x = x - 1 ))
      fi

      echo ""
    done

  fi

done

EDIT: Takes any number of files as input, and checks if the file exists. Example output:

$ filestat ~/.bashrc ~/.config

Filename: /home/am/.bashrc
User permission: read write
Group permission: read write
Other permission: read

Filename: /home/am/.config
User permission: read write execute
Group permission: NONE
Other permission: NONE