Title: WP_Filesystem_Direct::chmod
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_Filesystem_Direct::chmod( string $file, int|false $mode = false, bool $recursive = false ): bool

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#changelog)
 * [User Contributed Notes](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#user-contributed-notes)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Changes filesystem permissions.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$file`stringrequired

Path to the file.

`$mode`int|falseoptional

The permissions as octal number, usually 0644 for files, 0755 for directories.

Default:`false`

`$recursive`booloptional

If set to true, changes file permissions recursively.

Default:`false`

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool True on success, false on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function chmod( $file, $mode = false, $recursive = false ) {
    	if ( ! $mode ) {
    		if ( $this->is_file( $file ) ) {
    			$mode = FS_CHMOD_FILE;
    		} elseif ( $this->is_dir( $file ) ) {
    			$mode = FS_CHMOD_DIR;
    		} else {
    			return false;
    		}
    	}

    	if ( ! $recursive || ! $this->is_dir( $file ) ) {
    		return chmod( $file, $mode );
    	}

    	// Is a directory, and we want recursive.
    	$file     = trailingslashit( $file );
    	$filelist = $this->dirlist( $file );

    	foreach ( (array) $filelist as $filename => $filemeta ) {
    		$this->chmod( $file . $filename, $mode, $recursive );
    	}

    	return true;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php#L161)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php#L161-L185)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::dirlist()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/dirlist/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Gets details for files in a directory or a specific file.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::is_file()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/is_file/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Checks if resource is a file.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::is_dir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/is_dir/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Checks if resource is a directory.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::chmod()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Changes filesystem permissions.

  | 
| [trailingslashit()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/trailingslashit/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Appends a trailing slash.

  |

[Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#)

| Used by | Description | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::mkdir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/mkdir/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Creates a directory.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::copy()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/copy/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Copies a file.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::put_contents()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/put_contents/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Writes a string to a file.

  | 
| [WP_Filesystem_Direct::chmod()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/)`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-direct.php` |

Changes filesystem permissions.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [2.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.5.0/) | Introduced. |

## 󠀁[User Contributed Notes](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#user-contributed-notes)󠁿

 1.  [Skip to note 2 content](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/?output_format=md#comment-content-6372)
 2.   [Bachsau](https://profiles.wordpress.org/bachsau/)  [  3 years ago  ](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_filesystem_direct/chmod/#comment-6372)
 3. [You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note](https://login.wordpress.org?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwp_filesystem_direct%2Fchmod%2F%23comment-6372)
    Vote results for this note: 0[You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note](https://login.wordpress.org?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwp_filesystem_direct%2Fchmod%2F%23comment-6372)
 4. There must be a way to disable this. The server’s umask is correctly configured
    and this is useless work and in default configuration makes WordPress less secure.
    Trust the admin. umask is there for a reason. And besides that, umask can be set
    by php, which is much more efficient and more secure than chmod’ing everything 
    after the fact.
 5.  [Log in to add feedback](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwp_filesystem_direct%2Fchmod%2F%3Freplytocom%3D6372%23feedback-editor-6372)

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