Giving write permission to multiple directories

Hi,

i am having following directory structure

Folder1
-> Folder2
-> Folder3
Folder4
Folder5

Now i am at top level and want to assign write permission to all the folder & files in it.

i am writing chmod 777 folder1
It sets its permission to write. But when i open folder1, & do ls-l , folder2 still shows read only. Is there any way to assign write permission from top level.

Regards
Sarbjit

From man chmod:

-R   Recursively change the file mode bits.  For each file
     operand that names a directory, chmod alters the file mode
     bits of the named directory and all files and subdirectories
     in the file hierarchy below it.

Or, if you only want to change the directories:

find ./* -type d -exec chmod 0777 {} \+

chmod -R 777 folder name
this gives write permissions to all folders under folder name.
-R is for recurssive

this argument (-R) apply 777 to all (files and folders)