Wade writes: |> Uh, no, I think. chown root /fred, chmod 700 /fred, chmod 711 |> /fred/barney. Then anybody can get a listing of barney, but ... Well - darn if you aren't right. Only the immediate parent directory of the item to be opened/listed matters (so far as execture permissions), not the grandparents and up. Seems strange to me -- but seems you're right. ======================================================================= I won't rest till it's the best ... Software Production Engineer Paul Jackson (pj@sgi.com; pj@usa.net) 3x1373 http://sam.engr.sgi.com/pj