function dirmodes() {

   declare dir user group mods
   declare -a ar ret
   declare -i size i n 

   dir="$@"

   if [[ ! -e "$dir" ]]; then printf "%s\n" "Directory (or file) does not exist: $dir"; return 1; fi

   dir=${dir%/}      # remove a trailing slash character "/" if necessary

   OIFS="$IFS"
   export IFS=$'\n'


   i=-1
   while [[ -n "$dir" ]]; do
      i=$[i+1]
      user="$(/usr/bin/stat -f "%Su" "$dir")"
      group="$(/usr/bin/stat -f "%Sg" "$dir")"

      mods="$(/usr/bin/stat -f "%p" "$dir")"
      mods="${mods: -4}"
      #mods="$(/usr/bin/stat -f "%p" "$dir" | /usr/bin/grep -Eo "[[:digit:]]{4}$")"
  
      ar[$i]="$(printf "%-35s        %-50s\n" $user:$group:$mods $dir)"

      dir="$(/usr/bin/dirname "$dir")"

      if [[ "$dir" == '/' ]]; then 
         i=$[i+1] 
         ar[$i]="$(printf "%-35s        %-50s\n" $user:$group:$mods $dir)"
         dir=""
      fi

   done


   # get number of array elements 
   size=$(/bin/expr ${#ar[@]} - 1 )
   n=-1
   
   for (( i=$size; i>=0; i-- )); do    # reverse the array
      n=$[n+1]
      ret[$n]=${ar[$i]}
      printf "%s\n" "$(printf -- "${ar[$i]}" | tr -d '\r\n')"
   done

   export IFS="$OIFS"

   return 0

}