Paul Eggert wrote: > this use of "+" does not conflict with input usages like > "chmod +x foo".
It's because this use of '+' is easy to remember. "chmod +x" means "add execution permissions". "chmod -x" means "remove execution permissions". You want a symbol for "assign exact permissions". IMO the equals sign is a more well-known symbol for assignment than '@'. So, how about a notation chmod =755 or chmod =rw-r--r-- ? Then there will not only be no conflict with MacOS X. It will also be reasonably easy to remember for the users. Bruno