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@(#)stat.2 8.3 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
.Dd April 19, 1994 .Dt STAT 2 .Os BSD 4 .Sh NAME .Nm stat , .Nm lstat , .Nm fstat .Nd get file status .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include <sys/types.h> .Fd #include <sys/stat.h> .Ft int .Fn stat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb" .Ft int .Fn lstat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb" .Ft int .Fn fstat "int fd" "struct stat *sb" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn stat function obtains information about the file pointed to by .Fa path . Read, write or execute permission of the named file is not required, but all directories listed in the path name leading to the file must be searchable.
p .Fn Lstat is like .Fn stat except in the case where the named file is a symbolic link, in which case .Fn lstat returns information about the link, while .Fn stat returns information about the file the link references. Unlike other filesystem objects, symbolic links do not have an owner, group, access mode, times, etc. Instead, these attributes are taken from the directory that contains the link. The only attributes returned from an .Fn lstat that refer to the symbolic link itself are the file type (S_IFLNK), size, blocks, and link count (always 1).
p The .Fn fstat function obtains the same information about an open file known by the file descriptor .Fa fd .
p The .Fa sb argument is a pointer to a .Fn stat structure as defined by .Aq Pa sys/stat.h (shown below) and into which information is placed concerning the file. d -literal struct stat { dev_t st_dev; /* inode's device */ ino_t st_ino; /* inode's number */ mode_t st_mode; /* inode protection mode */ nlink_t st_nlink; /* number or hard links to the file */ uid_t st_uid; /* user-id of owner */ gid_t st_gid; /* group-id of owner */ dev_t st_rdev; /* device type, for special file inode */ struct timespec st_atimespec; /* time of last access */ struct timespec st_mtimespec; /* time of last data modification */ struct timespec st_ctimespec; /* time of last file status change */ off_t st_size; /* file size, in bytes */ int64_t st_blocks; /* blocks allocated for file */ u_int32_t st_blksize; /* optimal file sys I/O ops blocksize */ u_int32_t st_flags; /* user defined flags for file */ u_int32_t st_gen; /* file generation number */ }; .Ed
p The time-related fields of .Fa struct stat are as follows: l -tag -width XXXst_mtime t st_atime Time when file data was last accessed. Changed by the .Xr mknod 2 , .Xr utimes 2 and .Xr read 2 system calls. t st_mtime Time when file data was last modified. Changed by the .Xr mknod 2 , .Xr utimes 2 and .Xr write 2 system calls. t st_ctime Time when file status was last changed (inode data modification). Changed by the .Xr chflags 2 , .Xr chmod 2 , .Xr chown 2 , .Xr link 2 , .Xr mknod 2 , .Xr rename 2 , .Xr unlink 2 , .Xr utimes 2 and .Xr write 2 system calls. .El
p The size-related fields of the .Fa struct stat are as follows: l -tag -width XXXst_blksize t st_blksize The optimal I/O block size for the file. t st_blocks The actual number of blocks allocated for the file in 512-byte units. As short symbolic links are stored in the inode, this number may be zero. .El
p The status information word .Fa st_mode has the following bits: d -literal #define S_IFMT 0170000 /* type of file */ #define S_IFIFO 0010000 /* named pipe (fifo) */ #define S_IFCHR 0020000 /* character special */ #define S_IFDIR 0040000 /* directory */ #define S_IFBLK 0060000 /* block special */ #define S_IFREG 0100000 /* regular */ #define S_IFLNK 0120000 /* symbolic link */ #define S_IFSOCK 0140000 /* socket */ #define S_IFWHT 0160000 /* whiteout */ #define S_ISUID 0004000 /* set user id on execution */ #define S_ISGID 0002000 /* set group id on execution */ #define S_ISVTX 0001000 /* save swapped text even after use */ #define S_IRUSR 0000400 /* read permission, owner */ #define S_IWUSR 0000200 /* write permission, owner */ #define S_IXUSR 0000100 /* execute/search permission, owner */ #define S_IRGRP 0000040 /* read permission, group */ #define S_IWGRP 0000020 /* write permission, group */ #define S_IXGRP 0000010 /* execute/search permission, group */ #define S_IROTH 0000004 /* read permission, other */ #define S_IWOTH 0000002 /* write permission, other */ #define S_IXOTH 0000001 /* execute/search permission, other */ .Ed
p For a list of access modes, see .Aq Pa sys/stat.h , .Xr access 2 and .Xr chmod 2 .
p The status information word .Fa st_flags has the following bits: d -literal #define UF_NODUMP 0x00000001 /* do not dump file */ #define UF_IMMUTABLE 0x00000002 /* file may not be changed */ #define UF_APPEND 0x00000004 /* writes to file may only append */ #define UF_OPAQUE 0x00000008 /* directory is opaque wrt. union */ #define SF_ARCHIVED 0x00010000 /* file is archived */ #define SF_IMMUTABLE 0x00020000 /* file may not be changed */ #define SF_APPEND 0x00040000 /* writes to file may only append */ .Ed
p For a description of the flags, see .Xr chflags 2 . .Sh RETURN VALUES Upon successful completion a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and .Va errno is set to indicate the error. .Sh COMPATIBILITY Previous versions of the system used different types for the .Li st_dev , .Li st_uid , .Li st_gid , .Li st_rdev , .Li st_size , .Li st_blksize and .Li st_blocks fields. .Sh ERRORS .Fn Stat and .Fn lstat will fail if: l -tag -width Er t Bq Er ENOTDIR A component of the path prefix is not a directory. t Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG A component of a pathname exceeded .Dv {NAME_MAX} characters, or an entire path name exceeded .Dv {PATH_MAX} characters. t Bq Er ENOENT The named file does not exist. t Bq Er EACCES Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. t Bq Er ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. t Bq Er EFAULT .Fa Sb or .Em name points to an invalid address. t Bq Er EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. .El
p l -tag -width Er .Fn Fstat will fail if: t Bq Er EBADF .Fa fd is not a valid open file descriptor. t Bq Er EFAULT .Fa Sb points to an invalid address. t Bq Er EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr chflags 2 , .Xr chmod 2 , .Xr chown 2 , .Xr utimes 2 , .Xr symlink 7 .Sh BUGS Applying .Fn fstat to a socket (and thus to a pipe) returns a zero'd buffer, except for the blocksize field, and a unique device and inode number. .Sh STANDARDS The .Fn stat and .Fn fstat function calls are expected to conform to .St -p1003.1-88 . .Sh HISTORY A .Fn lstat function call appeared in x 4.2 .
Indexes created Sun Oct 19 22:09:57 GMT 2025