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How to Set FTP File Permissions and User Groups Using PHP

M66 2025-07-01

Connecting to an FTP Server with PHP

Before performing operations on an FTP server, you must first establish a connection using PHP. The ftp_connect and ftp_login functions are used to connect and authenticate. Here's an example:

$ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";
$ftp_user = "your_username";
$ftp_pass = "your_password";

// Connect to FTP server
$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server);
if(!$ftp_conn) {
    die("Could not connect to FTP server");
}

// Log in to FTP
$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_user, $ftp_pass);
if(!$login) {
    die("FTP login failed");
}

Setting File Permissions on the FTP Server

File permissions on FTP servers are usually represented as octal numbers. For instance, 755 allows the owner to read, write, and execute, while others can only read and execute. Use PHP's ftp_chmod function to set permissions:

$remote_file = "/path/to/remote_file";
$mode = 0755; // Set permission to 755

// Set file permissions
if(!ftp_chmod($ftp_conn, $mode, $remote_file)) {
    die("Failed to set file permissions");
}

Changing File User Group

On some FTP servers, the user group of a file can be changed using the SITE command. PHP’s ftp_site function lets you send commands like CHGRP to update the group:

$remote_file = "/path/to/remote_file";
$group = "your_group_name"; // Set group name

// Execute SITE command
if(!ftp_site($ftp_conn, "CHGRP " . $group . " " . $remote_file)) {
    die("Failed to set file group");
}

Disconnecting from the FTP Server

After completing operations, it is important to disconnect and release resources using the ftp_quit function:

// Disconnect from FTP server
ftp_quit($ftp_conn);

Conclusion

Using PHP’s built-in FTP functions, developers can efficiently manage file permissions and user groups on remote servers. The key operations include:

Make sure to provide correct server credentials and ensure the PHP environment has the FTP extension enabled. Depending on your project’s requirements, these methods can be extended for more advanced FTP file operations.

This guide should help you leverage PHP to manage your FTP server more effectively and automate server-side file handling tasks.

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