ATTRIB.exe

Source Display or change file attributes. Find Filenames.

Syntax
      ATTRIB [ + attribute | - attribute ] [pathname] [/S [/D]]
Key
     +    : Turn an attribute ON
     -    : Clear an attribute OFF
 pathname : Drive and/or filename e.g. C:\*.txt
    /S    : Search the pathname including all subfolders.
    /D    : Process folders as well
   attributes: 
        R  Read-only (1)
        H  Hidden (2)
        A  Archive (32)
        S  System (4)
   extended attributes:
        E  Encrypted
        C  Compressed (128:read-only)
        I  Not content-indexed
        L  Symbolic link/Junction (64:read-only)
        N  Normal (0: cannot be used for file selection)
        O  Offline
        P  Sparse file
        T  Temporary 

The numeric values may be used when changing attributes with VBS/WSH
If no attribute is specified attrib will return the current attribute settings. Used with just the /S option ATTRIB will quickly search for a particular filename.
Hidden and System attributes take priority.
If a file has both the Hidden and System attributes set, you can clear both attributes only with a single ATTRIB command.
For example, to clear the Hidden and System attributes for the RECORD.TXT file, you would type:
ATTRIB -S -H RECORD.TXT
File Attributes

You can use wildcards (? and *) with the filename parameter to display or change the attributes for a group of files.
Remember that, if a file has the System or Hidden attribute set, you must clear that attribute before you can change any other attributes.
Directory Attributes
You can display or change the attributes for a directory/folder. To use ATTRIB with a directory, you must explicitly specify the directory name; you cannot use wildcards to work with directories.

For example, to hide the directory C:\SECRET, you would type the following:
ATTRIB +H C:\SECRET
The following command would affect only files, not directories: ATTRIB +H C:*.*

The Read-only attribute for a folder is generally ignored by applications, however the Read-only and System attributes are used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the folder is a special folder, such as My Documents, Favorites, Fonts, etc.
Setting the Read-Only attribute on a folder can affect performance, particularly on shared drives because Windows Explorer will be forced to request the Desktop.ini of every sub-folder to see if any special folder settings need to be set.
Viewing archive attributes
The Archive attribute (A) is used to mark files that have changed since they were previously backed up. The (A) flag is automatically updated by Windows as the file is saved.
If the (A) flag is present - the file is new or has been changed since the last backup.
The MSBACKUP, RESTORE, and XCOPY commands use these Archive attributes, as do many (but not all) 3rd party backup solutions.

Constants - the following attribute values are returned by the GetFileAttributes function:
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY = 1
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN = 2
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM = 4
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY = 16
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE = 32
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ENCRYPTED = 64
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL = 128
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY = 256
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SPARSE_FILE = 512
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT = 1024
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED = 2048
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_OFFLINE = 4096
FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED = 8192
Related:
CACLS - Change file permissions
Q326549 - Read-only & System attributes for folders
Equivalent bash command (Linux): chmod - Change access permissions