Cannot edit theme php files says to ask host

@tonyhovsepian To change file permissions, you can use an SFTP / FTP program, such as FileZilla (link below), or you would need to log-in as root (or your sudo user) and issue a command, like the one provided by Ryan, on the directory or directories containing the files you wish to modify.

https://filezilla-project.org/

That being said, DigitalOcean is an un-managed VPS (Droplet) provider, meaning support is normally limited specifically to the server, server hardware and the network. Normally 3rd party scripts (including WordPress) are not covered under such, so getting help here within the community is the best route to take :-).

With a VPS, you’re in a slightly different environment than you are with a shared hosting provider as you’re given full root access to the server (meaning you can change anything, down to core functionality, with exception of the Kernel, for now).

Assuming that your WordPress installation is in /var/www/html you can use the following command to ensure that all files in this directory are owned by the same user your web server runs as.

chown -Rf www-data.www-data /var/www/html/

What I am trying to do is following the instructions here with the WordPress Codex to grant permissions in order to edit the php files. When I go to right-click on the php file it says to contact webhost. Since, I don’t see live chat anywhere, I thought I’d ask the community first before opening up a ticket.

Is there a way to grant permissions without needing to open-up a ticket with Digital Ocean? Am I reading the WordPress Codex instructions correctly?

https://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions