STAT

Section: System calls (2)
Updated: May 13, 1998
 

NAME

stat, fstat, lstat - get file status  

SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int stat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf);
int fstat(int filedes, struct stat *buf);
int lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf);  

DESCRIPTION

These functions return information about the specified file. You do not need any access rights to the file to get this information but you need search rights to all directories named in the path leading to the file.

stat stats the file pointed to by file_name and fills in buf.

lstat is identical to stat, only the link itself is stated, not the file that is obtained by tracing the links.

fstat is identical to stat, only the open file pointed to by filedes (as returned by open(2)) is stated in place of file_name.

They all return a stat structure, which contains the following fields:

struct stat
{
    dev_t         st_dev;      /* device */
    ino_t         st_ino;      /* inode */
    mode_t        st_mode;     /* protection */
    nlink_t       st_nlink;    /* number of hard links */
    uid_t         st_uid;      /* user ID of owner */
    gid_t         st_gid;      /* group ID of owner */
    dev_t         st_rdev;     /* device type (if inode device) */
    off_t         st_size;     /* total size, in bytes */
    unsigned long st_blksize;  /* blocksize for filesystem I/O */
    unsigned long st_blocks;   /* number of blocks allocated */
    time_t        st_atime;    /* time of last access */
    time_t        st_mtime;    /* time of last modification */
    time_t        st_ctime;    /* time of last change */
};

The value st_blocks gives the size of the file in 512-byte blocks. The value st_blksize gives the "preferred" blocksize for efficient file system I/O. (Writing to a file in smaller chunks may cause an inefficient read-modify-rewrite.)

Not all of the Linux filesystems implement all of the time fields. Traditionally, st_atime is changed by mknod(2), utime(2), read(2), write(2), and truncate(2).

Traditionally, st_mtime is changed by mknod(2), utime(2), and write(2). The st_mtime is not changed for changes in owner, group, hard link count, or mode.

Traditionally, st_ctime is changed by writing or by setting inode information (i.e., owner, group, link count, mode, etc.).

The following POSIX macros are defined to check the file type:

S_ISLNK(m)
is it a symbolic link?
S_ISREG(m)
regular file?
S_ISDIR(m)
directory?
S_ISCHR(m)
character device?
S_ISBLK(m)
block device?
S_ISFIFO(m)
fifo?
S_ISSOCK(m)
socket?

The following flags are defined for the st_mode field:
S_IFMT0170000bitmask for the file type bitfields
S_IFSOCK0140000socket
S_IFLNK0120000symbolic link
S_IFREG0100000regular file
S_IFBLK0060000block device
S_IFDIR0040000directory
S_IFCHR0020000character device
S_IFIFO0010000fifo
S_ISUID0004000set UID bit
S_ISGID0002000set GID bit (see below)
S_ISVTX0001000sticky bit (see below)
S_IRWXU00700mask for file owner permissions
S_IRUSR00400owner has read permission
S_IWUSR00200owner has write permission
S_IXUSR00100owner has execute permission
S_IRWXG00070mask for group permissions
S_IRGRP00040group has read permission
S_IWGRP00020group has write permission
S_IXGRP00010group has execute permission
S_IRWXO00007mask for permissions for others (not in group)
S_IROTH00004others have read permission
S_IWOTH00002others have write permisson
S_IXOTH00001others have execute permission
The set GID bit (S_ISGID) has several special uses: For a directory it indicates that BSD semantics is to be used for that directory: files created there inherit their group ID from the directory, not from the effective gid of the creating process, and directories created there will also get the S_ISGID bit set. For a file that does not have the group execution bit (S_IXGRP) set, it indicates mandatory file/record locking. The `sticky' bit (S_ISVTX) on a directory means that a file in that directory can be renamed or deleted only by the owner of the file, by the owner of the directory, and by root.  

RETURN VALUE

On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.  

ERRORS

EBADF
filedes is bad.
ENOENT
A component of the path file_name does not exist, or the path is an empty string.
ENOTDIR
A component of the path is not a directory.
ELOOP
Too many symbolic links encountered while traversing the path.
EFAULT
Bad address.
EACCES
Permission denied.
ENOMEM
Out of memory (i.e. kernel memory).
ENAMETOOLONG
File name too long.
 

CONFORMING TO

The stat and fstat calls conform to SVr4, SVID, POSIX, X/OPEN, BSD 4.3. The lstat call conforms to 4.3BSD and SVr4. SVr4 documents additional fstat error conditions EINTR, ENOLINK, and EOVERFLOW. SVr4 documents additional stat and lstat error conditions EACCES, EINTR, EMULTIHOP, ENOLINK, and EOVERFLOW. Use of the st_blocks and st_blksize fields may be less portable. (They were introduced in BSD. Are not specified by POSIX. The interpretation differs between systems, and possibly on a single system when NFS mounts are involved.)

POSIX does not describe the S_IFMT, S_IFSOCK, S_IFLNK, S_IFREG, S_IFBLK, S_IFDIR, S_IFCHR, S_IFIFO, S_ISVTX bits, but instead demands the use of the macros S_ISDIR(), etc. Unix V7 (and later systems) had S_IREAD, S_IWRITE, S_IEXEC, where POSIX prescribes the synonyms S_IRUSR, S_IWUSR, S_IXUSR.  

OTHER SYSTEMS

Values that have been (or are) in use on various systems:
hexnamelsoctaldescription
f000S_IFMT170000mask for file type
0000000000SCO out-of-service inode, BSD unknown type
SVID-v2 and XPG2 have both 0 and 0100000 for ordinary file
1000S_IFIFOp|010000fifo (named pipe)
2000S_IFCHRc020000character special (V7)
3000S_IFMPC030000multiplexed character special (V7)
4000S_IFDIRd/040000directory (V7)
5000S_IFNAM050000XENIX named special file
with two subtypes, distinguished by st_rdev values 1, 2:
0001S_INSEMs000001XENIX semaphore subtype of IFNAM
0002S_INSHDm000002XENIX shared data subtype of IFNAM
6000S_IFBLKb060000block special (V7)
7000S_IFMPB070000multiplexed block special (V7)
8000S_IFREG-100000regular (V7)
9000S_IFCMP110000VxFS compressed
9000S_IFNWKn110000network special (HP-UX)
a000S_IFLNKl@120000symbolic link (BSD)
b000S_IFSHAD130000Solaris shadow inode for ACL (not seen by userspace)
c000S_IFSOCKs=140000socket (BSD; also "S_IFSOC" on VxFS)
d000S_IFDOORD150000Solaris door
e000S_IFWHTw%160000BSD whiteout (not used for inode)

0200S_ISVTX001000`sticky bit': save swapped text even after use (V7)
reserved (SVID-v2)
On non-directories: don't cache this file (SunOS)
On directories: restricted deletion flag (SVID-v4.2)
0400S_ISGID002000set group ID on execution (V7)
for directories: use BSD semantics for propagation of gid
0400S_ENFMT002000SysV file locking enforcement (shared w/ S_ISGID)
0800S_ISUID004000set user ID on execution (V7)
0800S_CDF004000directory is a context dependent file (HP-UX)

A sticky command appeared in Version 32V AT&T UNIX.

 

SEE ALSO

chmod(2), chown(2), readlink(2), utime(2)