mkdir/cp in Mac terminal gives "Permission denied" error

Question

I'm trying to copy a directory in terminal from the Downloads directory to a sub-directory within the Applications/ directory, and I keep getting "Permission denied" error. Why is this so?

Solution 1

If you "right-click -> Get info" the Applications folder you will notice that the permissions for the Applications folder are Read/Write for 'system' or 'admin'. For 'everyone' it's Read-only. If you are not an admin you need to use 'sudo cp -R Downloads/___Test /Applications'. Obviously, you need to enter a password.

Solution 2

try ls -lt

to see access permission of the folder you want copy file into

then use chmod 777 your_folder_name to change the access permissions of the folder

Solution 3

MacOS prevents interaction with downloaded files until you confirm that they are safe. You can effectively do this programmatically by running:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/your_file_here

Then you should be able to copy the file.

Comments

[xrisk]

Please don't use chmod 777 mindlessly, it allows anybody on your computer to read your files!

[shinxg]

take it easy man, what we need to do is solve the access problem, if this solution can solve, why not use it.

[Matthew Read]

You can solve the access problem without introducing another access problem.