how to change drwxrwxr-x to -rwxrwxr-x (change the first left flag)

[creatxr]

how to change drwxrwxr-x to -rwxrwxr-x (change the first left flag)

change flag to d , - , or l

to treat directory as file
or
to mark back as directory

thanks.

[Thaddy]

man chmod

[lucamar]

man chmod

You can not change the directory flag with chmod, only the permission bits.*

@creatxr: Let me make a little search in my info sources; I remember having seen something related some time or other but I don't remember whether it can be done or not--although I think it can.


* In case there is any doubt:

[... discussion of UGO-RWXS options omitted ...]

A numeric mode is from one to four octal digits (0-7), derived by adding up  bits  with  values 4, 2, and 1.  Omitted digits are assumed to be leading zeros.

• The first digit selects the set user ID (4) and set group ID (2), and  restricted deletion or sticky (1) attributes.
• The second digit selects permissions for the user who owns the file: read (4), write (2), and execute (1);
• The third  selects permissions  for  other users in the file's group, with the same values; and
• the fourth for other users not in the file's group, with the same values.

[...etc...]

(Re-formated by myself)

[marcov]

Note that you can afaik open directories as files using normal FPC I/O.

[lucamar]

I don't know if the URL still works but I found a "note to myself" about this:

linux - How to remove directory flag? - Super User
https://superuser.com/questions/855212/how-to-remove-directory-flag

Changing the inode type would give you a corrupt filesystem, nothing else. (You would do that with filesystem debugging tools, which are filesystem specific and pretty dangerous - backup what you can before attempting anything like that. Example for the Linux ext filesystems: debugfs.)