The part of the `file' manual page explaining how the `attributes' sub-command
works on Unix systems currently looks like this:

  On Unix, -group gets or sets the group name for the file. A group id can be
  given to the command, but it returns a group name. -owner gets or sets the
  user name of the owner of the file. The command returns the owner name, but
  the numerical id can be passed when setting the owner. -permissions sets or
  retrieves the octal code that chmod(1) uses. This command does also has
  limited support for setting using the symbolic attributes for chmod(1), of the
  form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]], where multiple symbolic attributes can be
  separated by commas (example: u+s,go-rw add sticky bit for user, remove read
  and write permissions for group and other). A simplified ls style string, of
  the form rwxrwxrwx (must be 9 characters), is also supported (example:
  rwxr-xr-t is equivalent to 01755). On versions of Unix supporting file flags,
  -readonly gives the value or sets or clears the readonly attribute of the
  file, i.e. the user immutable flag uchg to chflags(1).

There are several problems with this.

1. The word "id" should be capitalized where it means ID, i.e., identity or
   identification.

2. I suggest changing the 3rd sentence to:

The -owner option gets or sets the user name of the file's owner.

3. I suggest changing the 4th sentence to:

When setting the owner, the numerical user ID may be used instead of the user
name.

4. I suggest replacing the 5th sentence with:

The -permissions option sets or	retrieves the octal code used by chmod(1).

5. The 6th sentence is a pretty mess and I'm not entirely sure how to fix it
   properly. Let's have a look:

  This command does also has limited support for setting using the symbolic
  attributes for chmod(1), of the form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]], where
  multiple symbolic attributes can be	separated by commas (example: u+s,go-rw
  add sticky bit for user, remove read and write permissions for group and
  other).

  * It should, of course, be "does also have" or "also has limited support".
    * Apart from that, "command" should be replaced with "option".
  * "for setting using the symbolic attributes"
    * Setting what? File attributes.
    * Using what? POSIX calls that "symbolic mode"[1].
  * "where multiple symbolic attributes can be separated by commas"
    * POSIX says "symbolic_mode expression"[1], so I'd go with "symbolic
      expressions".
  * Make the part in parantheses into a sentence of its own, like:
    * For example, u+s,go-rw will set the sticky bit for the
      [user|file|file owner], remove read and write permissions for group and
      other.
      * The problem here is that "user", "group" and "other" are actually
        names of file mode bits. Maybe they should simply be formatted italic.

6. In the 7th sentence:

  * It should be "ls-style" (hyphenated), provided that this is the right term
    in the first place.
    * The part in parantheses should be made into a sentence of its own here as
      well.

7. The last sentence needs some kind of fix-up as well.


Best,

msi


[1] http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/chmod.html#tag_20_17_13

Description of `file attributes' in `file' manual page