unix file permission problem

Hi, fredgoodman.

After reviewing your post, it appears that you're unable to access files which you own, but you're being stopped by permissions on an iMac running OS X 10.7.5. I'm happy to help.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac -- Start your iMac in safe mode and repair the permissions. Repair disk permissions with Disk Utility

Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac -- If the issue persists, before the moving to the next step, be sure your personal information is safe by backing up your Mac.

About macOS Recovery -- Please reinstall the operating system using the steps contained in this article.

Let me know how that goes and take care!

mysterious, but these command will provide more info. I'm running 10.10.5. Might need to change:

/bin/ls -la@hbefO

drop letters that don't give joy.

mac $ # I'd try these.  Will give more info.
mac $ id
uid=501(mac) gid=20(staff) ... clipped ...
mac $ pwd
/Users/mac/test
mac $ whereis touch
/usr/bin/touch
mac $ ls -l /usr/bin/touch
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    19K Nov  6  2014 /usr/bin/touch*
mac $ # for the dirtory will will be creating the file.
mac $ pwd
/Users/mac/test
mac $ /bin/ls -la@hbefO /Users/mac/test
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  5 mac  staff  -  170B Aug 10 19:36 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 84 mac  staff  -  2.8K Jul 25 11:06 ..
0: group:everyone deny delete
-rw-r--r--@  1 mac  staff  -  6.0K Jan 30  2016 .DS_Store
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32B
-rw-r--r--  1 mac  staff  -    0B Aug 10 19:36 hi
drwxr-xr-x+ 12 mac  staff  -  408B Jan 30  2016 student
0: group:everyone deny delete
mac $ touch hi2
mac $

might want to do /bin/ls -la@hbefO on every directory in the path. try just ~

I've always done just torch file-name

ls options:

l -- long

a -- all

@ -- extended attributs

h -- human readable size

b -- print odd characters as escape codes

e -- print access control lists

f -- append file type info

O -- print file flags

ls -la@hbefO

Well, a fix is a fix.

R