Windows Command Line – List Files and Their Permissions

command linewindows

In linux, ls -l lists files permissions, like this:

-rw-r--r--  1 user user      924 2011-07-01 20:23 test.txt

In Windows, commands tree and dir don't have the options to list permissions. How is it possible to list files and their permissions using command line only?

Best Answer

Use icacls:

> icacls Music
Music SNOW\grawity:(I)(F)
      CREATOR OWNER:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
      SNOW\grawity:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(OI)(CI)(F)

The older cacls tool is the only choice on Windows XP [although you can copy icacls.exe from Server 2003]. cacls does not know about some ACL modes, but displays most of them fine.

> cacls Music
F:\Users\Mantas\Music SNOW\grawity:F
                      CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
                      SNOW\grawity:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
                      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F

In both outputs, (OI) means "object inherit" (files will inherit this ACE), (CI) is "container inherit" (containers – i.e. folders – will inherit this ACE), (IO) is "inherit only".

Microsoft also used to provide an xcacls tool separately, but its functionality is now part of icacls.

Related Solutions

Windows – Open file from the command line on Windows

If you are currently in the command prompt and have a file called test.png and , which are located in c:\test you can do the following:

If you are at the directory (so should say c:\test>) just type:

test.png

which would open test in the default png picture editor.

If the files name contains spaces, then simply enclose the file name within " "

 "this image.png"

You can alternatively type:

c:\test\test.png

which will open the file no matter where you currently are.

Finally, you can pass the picture to another program. For example, if you have an image editor called imageedit.exe and it supports opening files through command lines (and if the program is pathed/accessible or you are in it's current directory), you can type the following:

 imageedit c:\test\test.png

Linux – Tree command list one level all files

For Windows XP or 7, the /F switch will also show filenames.

C:\>tree /?
Graphically displays the folder structure of a drive or path.

TREE [drive:][path] [/F] [/A]

   /F   Display the names of the files in each folder.
   /A   Use ASCII instead of extended characters.

However, I'm guessing you're on another OS since /L is not a valid switch on XP or 7.

On my Ubuntu VM (11.10), tree did not come pre-installed. sudo apt-get install tree fixed that quickly. Afterwards tree -L 1 worked just as you seem to want it to - it showed a tree of just the current directory, including files and directories. Adding the -a switch also included "hidden" files. It seems the default behavior of tree is to show both files and directories. This can be changed to directories only with the -d switch.

More details can be found in man tree or here: http://www.computerhope.com/unix/tree.htm

If you're having trouble, I suggest checking the ls of your pwd to make sure there actually are files in that directory. Also, check your file and folder permissions and view the man page for tree for more options.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Open file from the command line on Windows

Linux – Tree command list one level all files

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