understanding chmod

chmod 777 I'm trying to change the permissions of temp_dir to 777. Why are these commands not accomplishing that? I'm using Linux by the way.. View (u)ser, (g)roup and (o)thers permissions for chmod 777 (chmod a+rwx) or use free on chmod calculator to modify permissions easily.

jos777, If you are going for a console command it would be: chmod -R 777 store. The -R.