To display the access permissions of a file or directory use the the command:
ls -l filename (directory)
This displays a one line summary for each file or directory. For example:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 erpl08 1995 Feb 22 15:51 my.html
This first item -rwxr-xr-x represents the access permissions on this file. The following items represent the number of links to it; the username of the person owning it; its size and the time and date it was last changed, and finally, its name.