Change permissions in bulk on certain files

[ManhattanPrjct]

For some reason, a number of files on my hard drive are "read" instead of "read/write." I am not sure how this happened, but I wanted to know if there's a quick way to change the permissions on about 1000 files without changing each one one-by-one. You would think clicking the folder and changing it there would solve this issue...

 

[belvdr]

If the files are in one folder, open Terminal:

cd /path/to/files

chmod u+w <file list>

where <file list> can be a wildcard, such as *.* for all files, including hidden ones. This adds the write privilege to the owner of the files.

 

[ManhattanPrjct]

What if they are in multiple folders, under the same tree?

 

[belvdr]

If you want to ensure your user has write permissions on all files:

find /path/to/files -type f -exec chmod u+w {} \;

 

[ManhattanPrjct]

Is that \; a tentative winky face or should that actually be typed?