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.\" @(#)stat.2 8.4 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
.Fd #include <sys/stat.h>
.Fn stat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb"
.Fn lstat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb"
.Fn fstat "int fd" "struct stat *sb"
function obtains information about the file pointed to by
permission of the named file is not required, but all directories
listed in the path name leading to the file must be searchable.
except in the case where the named file is a symbolic link,
returns information about the link,
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
The only attributes returned from an
that refer to the symbolic link itself are the file type (S_IFLNK),
size, blocks, and link count (always 1).
obtains the same information about an open file
known by the file descriptor
argument is a pointer to a
and into which information is placed concerning the file.
dev_t st_dev; /* device inode resides on */
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 */
quad_t st_blocks; /* blocks allocated for file */
u_long st_blksize;/* optimal file sys I/O ops blocksize */
u_long st_flags; /* user defined flags for file */
u_long st_gen; /* file generation number */
The time-related fields of
.Bl -tag -width XXXst_mtime
Time when file data last accessed.
Time when file data last modified.
Time when file status was last changed (inode data modification).
The size-related fields of the
.Bl -tag -width XXXst_blksize
The optimal I/O block size for the file.
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
The status information word
#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_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 */
For a list of access modes, see
Upon successful completion a value of 0 is returned.
Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and
is set to indicate the error.
Previous versions of the system used different types for the
.Bl -tag -width ENAMETOOLONGAA
A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
The pathname contains a character with the high-order bit set.
A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters,
or an entire path name exceeded 1023 characters.
The named file does not exist.
Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix.
Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
points to an invalid address.
An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
is not a valid open file descriptor.
points to an invalid address.
An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
to a socket (and thus to a pipe)
except for the blocksize field,
and a unique device and inode number.
function calls are expected to
conform to IEEE Std 1003.1-1988
function call appeared in
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