stat(2) System Calls Manual stat(2)
NAME
stat() - get file status
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
The function obtains information about the named file and writes it to the area pointed to by the buf argument. The path argument is a
pointer to a path name of any file within the mounted file system. (All directories listed in the path name must be searchable). Read,
write or execute permission of the named file is not required, but all directories listed in the pathname leading to all directories listed
in the pathname leading to the file must be searchable. An implementation that provides additional or alternate file access control mecha-
nisms may, under implementation-dependent conditions, cause to fail. In particular, the system may deny the existence of the file speci-
fied by path.
The buf argument is a pointer to a structure, as defined in the header into which information is placed concerning the file. The structure
contains the following members:
dev_t st_dev; /* ID of device containing a */
/* directory entry for this file */
ino_t st_ino; /* Inode number */
short st_fstype; /* Type of filesystem this file */
/* is in; see sysfs(2) */
ushort st_mode; /* File type, attributes, and */
/* access control summary */
ushort st_basemode /* Permission bits (see chmod(1)) */
ushort st_nlink; /* Number of links */
uid_t st_uid; /* User ID of file owner */
gid_t st_gid; /* Group ID of file group */
dev_t st_rdev; /* Device ID; this entry defined */
/* only for char or blk spec files */
off_t st_size; /* File size (bytes) */
time_t st_atime; /* Time of last access */
int st_natime; /* Reserved, DO NOT USE; field may change. */
time_t st_mtime; /* Last modification time */
int st_nmtime; /* Reserved, DO NOT USE, field may change. */
time_t st_ctime; /* Last file status change time */
/* Measured in secs since */
/* 00:00:00 GMT, Jan 1, 1970 */
int st_nctime; /* Reserved, DO NOT USE; field may change */
long st_blksize; /* File system block size */
blkcnt_t st_blocks; /* Number of blocks of a */
/* file-system-specific size */
/* allocated for this object */
uint st_acl:1; /* Set if the file has optional */
/* access control list entries */
/* HFS File Systems only */
uint st_aclv:1; /* Set if the file has optional */
/* access control list entries */
/* JFS File Systems only */
(Note that the position of items in this list does not necessarily reflect the order of the members in the structure.)
If the chosen path name or file descriptor refers to a Multi-Level Directory (MLD), and the process does not have the multilevel effective
privilege, the i-node number returned in st_ino is the i-node of the MLD itself.
The function updates any time-related fields (as described in the definition of File Times Update in the XBD specification), before writing
into the structure.
The structure members st_mode, st_ino, st_dev, st_uid, st_gid, st_atime, st_ctime, and st_mtime will have meaningful values for all file
types defined in this document. The value of the member st_nlink will be set to the number of links to the file.
Note: The st_natime, st_nmtime, and st_nctime fields are currently reserved. To avoid compatibility problems, these fields should not be
used.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, 0 is returned. Otherwise, -1 is returned and is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The function will fail if:
Search permission is denied for a component of the
path prefix.
buf or path points to an invalid address. The reliable detection of this error is implementation dependent.
An error occurred while reading from the file system.
Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving path.
The length of the path argument exceeds or a pathname component is longer than
A component of path does not name an existing file or path is an empty string.
A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
The file size in bytes or the number of blocks allocated to the file cannot
be represented correctly in the structure pointed to by buf.
The function may fail if:
Pathname resolution of a symbolic link produced an intermediate
result whose length exceeds
A 32-bit application is making this call on a file where the
or other field(s) would need to hold a 64-bit value. Use instead.
NETWORKING FEATURES
NFS
The st_basemode is equal to st_mode and st_acl and the st_aclv fields are zero on files accessed remotely. The st_acl field is applicable
to HFS File Systems only. The st_aclv field is applicable to JFS File Systems only.
WARNINGS
Access Control Lists - HFS and JFS File Systems only
Access control list descriptions in this entry apply only to HFS and JFS file systems on standard HP-UX operating systems.
For 32-bit applications, will be truncated to its least significant 32-bits for filesystems that use 64-bit values.
DEPENDENCIES
CD-ROM
The st_uid and st_gid fields are set to -1 if they are not specified on the disk for a given file.
AUTHOR
and were developed by AT&T. was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
SEE ALSO
touch(1), acl(2), chmod(2), chown(2), creat(2), fstat(2), link(2), lstat(2), mknod(2), pipe(2), read(2), rename(2), setacl(2), stat64(2),
sysfs(2), time(2), truncate(2), unlink(2), utime(2), write(2), acl(5), aclv(5), privileges(5), stat(5), <sys/stat.h>, <sys/types.h>.
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
stat(2)