In Linux, UNIX and related operating systems, . denotes the current directory. Since you want to run a file in your current directory and that directory is not in your $PATH, you need the ./ bit to tell the shell where the executable is. So, ./foo means run the executable called foo that is in this directory.

You can use type or which to get the full path of any commands found in your $PATH.

There are two ways of making a file executable:

GUI Method:

Right-click the file and select Properties. Go to the permissions tab, then tick the box Execute: [ ] Allow executing file as program or in Nautilus Program: [ ] Allow this file to run as a program in Thunar.

Terminal / Command method:

You can either use:

cd /to/my/required/directory

Then run

chmod +x filename.extension

Or just run:

chmod +x /path/to/your/filename.extension

chmod does also have some more advanced options:

The spaces are to show that it is split up: - rwx --- ---

The first set of --- is User. The second is Group and the last is Other (anyone else)

r stands for Read, w for Write and x for eXecute.

So to allow everyone to read it, but only Group to execute and User to read and write it (but for some reason not execute) would be:

-rw- rx- r-- But this would be added to the command as:

chmod +rw-rx-r-- /path/to/file.extension

chmod also can do this in numbers. It is based on binary (I think, as it is 1,2 and 4)

So there are these numbers:

Execute by user is 100. Execute by group is 010. Execute by other is 001.

Write by user is 200. Write by group is 020. Write by other is 002.

Read by user is 400. Read by group is 040. Read by other is 004.

Then you add these together to get the desired combination.

So to allow everyone to read it, but only Group to execute and User to write it (but for some reason not execute) would be:

400 + 040 + 004 and 010 and 200

That adds up to 600 + 050 + 004 = 654.

You could then run the command.

chmod +654 /path/to/file.extension to set it.

And to set all permissions you can type:

chmod +rwxrwxrwx /path/to/file.extension

Or (this is a bit easier to write, but harder to remember each one):

chmod +777 /path/to/file.extension

Finally, you can do:

chmod -777 /path/to/file.extension

To take all permissions away from everyone.

And:

chmod +300 /path/to/file.extension

To add read and write for user, without affecting any other permissions (e.g. Execute permissions).

This website has a very useful little grid checkbox thing, whereby you can tick the options you want and it gives you the command:

However, not all the possible combinations are sensible to use; the main ones that are used are the following:

755 - Owner has all, and Group and Other can read and execute

700 - Owner has all

644 - Owner can read and write, and Group and Other can read

600 - Owner can read and write

And, if you're using non-trivial user groups:

775 - Owner can read and write, and Group and Other can read

770 - Owner and Group have all, and Other can read and execute

750 - Owner has all, and Group can read and execute

664 - Owner and Group can read and write, and Other can just read

660 - Owner and Group can read and write

640 - Owner can read and write, and Group can read

777 and 666 are rarely used, except in /tmp.

Thanks Ilmari Karonen for pointing out the ones in common usage!

This anwswer is combining other answers in to this question into one.

The info.exe file will either execute under Linux or Windows, but not both.

Executes Under Windows

If the file is a windows file, it will not run under Linux on it's own. So if that's the case, you could try running it under a windows emulator (WINE). If it's not compatible with wine, then you won't be able to execute it under Linux.

Before you can start, you will need to install wine. The steps you need to install wine will vary on the linux platform you are on. You can probably google "Ubuntu install wine", if for example, you're installing ubuntu.

Once you have wine installed, then you'd be able to execute these commands.

cd abc/
wine info.exe

Execute Under Linux

if you know this file to run under linux, then you'll want to execute these commands:

Change to your abc directory

cd abc/

Then you'll want to change permissions to allow all users to execute this file (a+x).
you could also allow just the user to execute (u+x)

chmod a+x info.exe

Launch the program, the ./ tells the command line to look in the current path for the file to execute (if the 'current' directory isn't in the $PATH environment variable.

./info.exe

You need to mark shell scripts as executable to run them from the file manager:

1. Right click on your .sh file and select Properties:

   

2. In the Permissions tab, check Allow executing file as program:

   

3. Close the Properties window and double-click the file. A dialog will pop up giving you the option to run the script in a terminal: