Why is the file being read with 110 rights to the directory?

Question

Access rights

I set 110 rights to the directory /var/www/html/

In the html directory there is a file info.php, with 440 rights

In the terminal I type "cat /var/www/html/info.php" and get the file displayed.
Why was the contents of the file displayed, in other words, the file was read, if for the directory I set the rights only to execute, and not to execute and read?

Answer 1

The x attribute on a directory allows access to files within it. The r
attribute on a file allows the file to be read. The attributes 110 and 440 you set allow the file to be read by root, the file's owner, and the group.

Answer 2

If you sit as a root (or another user with id=0), then the rights system is ignored.