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Systems & Data Center · Intermediate

Sticky Bit

A directory permission that allows only a file's owner, the directory owner or root to delete or rename files within it.

Definition

The sticky bit appears as t in the others execute position, as on /tmp (drwxrwxrwt). It is set with chmod +t or a leading 1 in octal.

Example

chmod 1777 /shared/dropbox lets everyone write but not delete other users' files.

Exam tip

Know /tmp as the canonical sticky-bit directory.

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