usr.bin/stat/stat.1

.\"	$NetBSD: stat.1,v 1.47 2024/01/29 21:55:24 christos Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2002-2011 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
.\" by Andrew Brown and Jan Schaumann.
.\"
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
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.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
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.Dd January 29, 2023
.Dt STAT 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm stat
.Nd display file status
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl FLnq
.Oo
.Fl f Ar format |
.Fl l |
.Fl r |
.Fl s |
.Fl x
.Oc
.Op Fl t Ar timefmt
.Op Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility displays information about each file given by
.Ar file .
Read, write, or execute permissions for the named file are not required, but
all directories listed in the pathname leading to the file must be
searchable.
.Pp
If no
.Ar file
argument is given,
.Nm
displays information about the file descriptor for standard input.
In this case the
.Fl L
option is ignored, and
.Nm
uses
.Xr fstat 2
rather than
.Xr lstat 2
or
.Xr stat 2
to obtain information.
The
.Sq file name
(and also the
.Sq path name )
in this case is
.Ql \&(stdin) .
The file number
.Pq Ql %@
will be zero.
.Pp
Otherwise the information displayed is obtained by calling
.Xr lstat 2
(or
.Xr stat 2
with
.Fl L )
with each given argument in turn and evaluating the returned structure.
.Pp
The default format displays the
.Fa st_dev ,
.Fa st_ino ,
.Fa st_mode ,
.Fa st_nlink ,
.Fa st_uid ,
.Fa st_gid ,
.Fa st_rdev ,
.Fa st_size ,
.Fa st_atime ,
.Fa st_mtime ,
.Fa st_ctime ,
.Fa st_birthtime ,
.Fa st_blksize ,
.Fa st_blocks ,
and
.Fa st_flags
fields, in that order.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Fl
.It Fl F
As in
.Xr ls 1 ,
display a slash
.Pq Ql /
immediately after each pathname that is a directory, an
asterisk
.Pq Ql *
after each that is executable, an at sign
.Pq Ql @
after each symbolic link, a percent sign
.Pq Ql %
after each whiteout, an equal sign
.Pq Ql =
after each socket, and a vertical bar
.Pq Ql \&|
after each that is a FIFO.
The use of
.Fl F
implies
.Fl l .
.It Fl f Ar format
Display information using the specified format.
See the
.Sx FORMATS
section for a description of valid formats.
.It Fl L
Use
.Xr stat 2
instead of
.Xr lstat 2 .
The information reported by
.Nm
will refer to the target of
.Ar file ,
if
.Ar file
is a symbolic link, rather than to
.Ar file
itself.
.It Fl l
Display output in
.Ic ls Fl lT
format.
.It Fl n
Do not force a newline to appear at the end of each piece of output.
.It Fl q
Suppress failure messages if calls to
.Xr fstat 2 ,
.Xr lstat 2 ,
.Xr readlink 2 ,
.Xr realpath 3 ,
or
.Xr stat 2
fail.
.It Fl r
Display raw information.
That is, for all the fields in the stat-structure,
display the raw, numerical value (for example, times in seconds since the
epoch, etc.)
.It Fl s
Display information in
.Dq shell command
output format,
suitable for initializing variables.
This is equivalent to specifying
.Bd -literal
FMT="st_dev=%d st_ino=%i st_mode=%#p st_nlink=%l"
FMT="$FMT st_uid=%u st_gid=%g st_rdev=%r st_size=%z"
FMT="$FMT st_atime=%Sa st_mtime=%Sm st_ctime=%Sc"
FMT="$FMT st_birthtime=%SB st_blksize=%k st_blocks=%b"
FMT="$FMT st_flags=%f"
stat -t %s -f "$FMT" .
.Ed
.Pp
The
.Ar timefmt
may be altered from the default for
.Fl s
.Pq Ql \&%s
by also using the
.Fl t
option.
Note that if you use a
.Ar timefmt
that contains embedded whitespace or shell
meta-characters,
you will need to
include appropriate quoting in the
.Fl t
format, or supply an explicit format
.Pq Fl f ,
rather than
.Fl s ,
with the format containing appropriate quoting so the output remains valid.
.It Fl t Ar timefmt
Display timestamps, when to be output in string format,
using the specified format.
This format is
passed directly to
.Xr strftime 3
with the extension that
.Ql %f
prints nanoseconds if available.
.It Fl x
Display information in a more verbose way as seen from some Linux
distributions.
.El
.Ss FORMATS
Format strings are similar to
.Xr printf 3
formats in that they contain character data,
which is simply output,
interspersed with data conversions which start with
.Cm % ,
are then followed by a sequence of formatting characters, and end in
a character that selects the datum, the field of the struct stat,
or other data,
which is to be formatted.
If the
.Cm %
is immediately followed by one of
.Cm n ,
.Cm t ,
.Cm % ,
or
.Cm @ ,
then a newline character, a tab character, a percent character,
or the current file number in the argument list is printed.
Otherwise the string is examined for the following:
.Pp
Any of the following optional flags in any order:
.Bl -tag -width Cm
.It Cm #
Selects an alternate output form for string, octal and hexadecimal output.
String output will be encoded in
.Xr vis 3
style.
Octal output will have a leading zero.
Non-zero hexadecimal output will have
.Ql 0x
prepended to it.
.It Cm +
Asserts that a sign indicating whether a number is positive or negative
should always be printed.
Non-negative numbers are not usually printed with a sign.
.It Cm -
Aligns string output to the left of the field, instead of to the right.
.It Cm 0
Sets the fill character for left padding to the 0 character, instead of
a space.
.It space
Reserves a space at the front of non-negative signed output fields.
A
.Sq Cm +
overrides a space if both are used.
.El
.Pp
Then followed by the following fields in the following order:
.Bl -tag -width Ar
.It Ar size
An optional decimal digit string specifying the minimum field width.
Note that a leading zero is treated as the
.Sq Cm 0
flag (above), subsequent embedded zeroes are part of the
.Ar size .
.It Ar prec
An optional precision composed of a decimal point
.Sq Cm \&.
and a decimal digit string that indicates the maximum string length,
the number of digits to appear after the decimal point in floating point
output, or the minimum number of digits to appear in other numeric output.
.It Ar fmt
An optional output format specifier which is one of
.Cm D ,
.Cm O ,
.Cm U ,
.Cm X ,
.Cm F ,
or
.Cm S .
These represent signed decimal output, octal output, unsigned decimal
output, hexadecimal output, floating point output, and string output,
respectively.
Some output formats do not apply to all fields.
Floating point output only applies to timespec fields (the
.Cm a ,
.Cm m ,
and
.Cm c
fields).
.Pp
The special output format specifier
.Cm S
may be used to indicate that the output, if
applicable, should be in string format.
May be used in combination with the following field specifiers:
.Bl -tag -width Cm
.It Cm a , m , c
Display date in
.Xr strftime 3
format with the extension that
.Ql %f
prints nanoseconds if available.
.It Cm d , r
Display actual device name.
.It Cm f
Display the flags of
.Ar file
as in
.Nm ls Fl ldo .
.It Cm g , u
Display group or user name.
.It Cm p
Display the mode of
.Ar file
symbolically, as in
.Ic ls -lTd .
.It Cm N
Displays the name of
.Ar file .
.It Cm T
Displays the type of
.Ar file .
.It Cm R , Y
Insert a
.Sq Li \~->\~ \" .Ql, but force quotes even in PS output
into the output.
Note that the default output formats for
.Cm Y
and
.Cm R
are strings, if
.Cm S
is specified explicitly, these four characters are prepended.
.El
.It Ar sub
An optional sub field specifier: high, middle, or low.
Only applies to the
.Cm d ,
.Cm N ,
.Cm p ,
.Cm r ,
.Cm T ,
and
.Cm z
output field specifiers.
It can be one of the following:
.Bl -tag -width Cm
.It Cm H
.Dq High
subfield of
.Ar datum\^ :
.Bl -tag -compact -width Cm
.It Cm d , r
Major number for devices
.It Cm N
Directory path of the file, similar to what
.Xr dirname 1
would show
.It Cm p
.Dq User
bits from the string form of permissions,
or the file
.Dq type
bits from the numeric forms
.It Cm T
The long output form of file type
.It Cm z
File size, rounded to the nearest gigabyte
.El
.It Cm M
.Dq Middle
subfield of
.Ar datum\^ :
.Bl -tag -compact -width Cm
.It Cm p
The
.Dq group
bits from the string form of permissions,
or the
.Dq suid ,
.Dq sgid ,
and
.Dq sticky
bits from the numeric forms
.It Cm z
File size, rounded to the nearest megabyte
.El
.It Cm L
.Dq Low
subfield of
.Ar datum\^ :
.Bl -tag -compact -width Cm
.It Cm d , r
Minor number for devices
.It Cm N
Base filename of the file, similar to what
.Xr basename 1
would show
.It Cm p
The
.Dq other
bits from the string form of permissions,
or the
.Dq user ,
.Dq group ,
and
.Dq other
bits from the numeric forms
.It Cm T
The
.Ic ls -F
style output character for file type (the use of
.Cm L
here is optional)
.It Cm z
File size, rounded to the nearest kilobyte
.El
.El
.It Ar datum
A required field specifier, ending the conversion specification,
being one of the following:
.Bl -tag -width Cm
.It Cm d
Device upon which
.Ar file
resides
.Pq Fa st_dev .
.It Cm i
.Ar file Ap s
inode number
.Pq Fa st_ino .
.It Cm p
File type and permissions
.Pq Fa st_mode .
.It Cm l
Number of hard links to
.Ar file
.Pq Fa st_nlink .
.It Cm u , g
User-id and group-id of
.Ar file Ap s
owner
.Pq Fa st_uid , st_gid .
.It Cm r
Device number for character and block device special files
.Pq Fa st_rdev .
.It Cm a , m , c , B
The time
.Ar file
was last accessed or modified, or when its inode was last changed, or
the birth time of the inode
.Pq Fa st_atime , st_mtime , st_ctime , st_birthtime .
.It Cm z
The size of
.Ar file
in bytes
.Pq Fa st_size .
.It Cm b
Number of blocks allocated for
.Ar file
.Pq Fa st_blocks .
.It Cm k
Optimal file system I/O operation block size
.Pq Fa st_blksize .
.It Cm f
User defined flags for
.Ar file
.Pq Fa st_flags .
.It Cm v
Inode generation number
.Pq Fa st_gen .
.El
.Pp
The following five field specifiers are not drawn directly from the
data in
.Vt struct stat ,
but are:
.Bl -tag -width Cm
.It Cm N
The name of the file.
.It Cm R
The absolute pathname corresponding to the file.
.It Cm T
The file type, either as in
.Ic ls -F
or in a more descriptive form if the sub field specifier
.Cm H
is given.
.It Cm Y
The target of a symbolic link.
.It Cm Z
Expands to
.Dq Ar major Ns Li \&, Ns Ar minor\^
.Po
that is,
.Sq Li %Hr,%-Lr
.Pc
for character or block special devices,
and gives size output
.Pq Sq Li %z
for all other file types.
A specified field width applies to the overall result
(approximately half each for the two device file sub-fields),
but precision, output format, and flags are used separately for
each conversion made (but note the
.Sq Cm -
in the
.Sq Li %-Lr
conversion.)
.El
.El
.Pp
Only the
.Sq Cm %
and the
.Ar datum
(field specifier) are required.
Most field specifiers default to
.Cm U
as an output format, with the
exception of
.Cm p
which defaults to
.Cm O ;
.Cm a , m ,
and
.Cm c
which default to
.Cm D ;
and
.Cm Y , T , R ,
and
.Cm N ,
which default to
.Cm S .
.Sh EXIT STATUS
.Ex -std
.Sh EXAMPLES
If no options are specified, the default format is:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
%d %i %Sp %l %Su %Sg %r %z "%Sa" "%Sm" "%Sc" "%SB" %k %b %#Xf %N
.Ed
.Pp
Thus:
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
> stat /tmp/bar
0 78852 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel \(mi1 0 "Jul  8 10:26:03 2004" "Jul  8 10:26:03 2004" "Jul  8 10:28:13 2004" "Jan  1 09:00:00 1970" 16384 0 0 /tmp/bar
.Ed
.Pp
This next example produces output very similar to that from
.Ic find Ar \&.\|.\|. Ic -ls ,
except that
.Xr find 1
displays the time in a different format, and
.Xr find 1
sometimes adds one or more spaces after the comma in
.Dq Ar major Ns Li \&, Ns Ar minor\^
for device nodes:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> stat -f "%7i %6b %-11Sp %3l %-17Su %-17Sg %9Z %Sm %N%SY" /tmp/bar
  78852      0 -rw-r--r--    1 root              wheel                     0 Jul  8 10:26:03 2004 /tmp/bar

> find /tmp/bar -ls -exit
  78852      0 -rw-r--r--    1 root              wheel                     0 Jul  8  2004 /tmp/bar
.Ed
.Pp
This example produces output very similar to that from
.Ic ls -lTd ,
except that
.Xr ls 1
adjusts the column spacing differently when listing multiple files,
and adds at least one space after the comma in
.Dq Ar major Ns Li \&, Ns Ar minor\^
for device nodes:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> stat -f "%-11Sp %l %Su  %Sg  %Z %Sm %N%SY" /tmp/bar
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  0 Jul  8 10:26:03 2004 /tmp/bar

> ls -lTd /tmp/bar
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  0 Jul  8 10:26:03 2004 /tmp/bar
.Ed
.Pp
Given a symbolic link
.Pa /tmp/foo
that points to
.Pa / ,
you would use
.Nm
as follows:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> stat -F /tmp/foo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 jschauma cs 1 Apr 24 16:37:28 2002 /tmp/foo@ -> /

> stat -LF /tmp/foo
drwxr-xr-x 16 root wheel 512 Apr 19 10:57:54 2002 /tmp/foo/
.Ed
.Pp
To initialize some shell variables, you could use the
.Fl s
flag as follows:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> csh
% eval set `stat -s .cshrc`
% echo $st_size $st_mtime
1148 1015432481

> sh
$ eval $(stat -s .profile)
$ echo $st_size $st_mtime
1148 1015432481
.Ed
.Pp
In order to get a list of the kind of files including files pointed to if the
file is a symbolic link, you could use the following format:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ stat -f "%N: %HT%SY" /tmp/*
/tmp/bar: Symbolic Link -> /tmp/foo
/tmp/output25568: Regular File
/tmp/blah: Directory
/tmp/foo: Symbolic Link -> /
.Ed
.Pp
In order to get a list of the devices, their types and the major and minor
device numbers, formatted with tabs and line breaks, you could use the
following format:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
stat -f "Name: %N%n%tType: %HT%n%tMajor: %Hr%n%tMinor: %Lr%n%n" /dev/*
[...]
Name: /dev/wt8
        Type: Block Device
        Major: 3
        Minor: 8

Name: /dev/zero
        Type: Character Device
        Major: 2
        Minor: 12
.Ed
.Pp
In order to determine the permissions set on a file separately, you could use
the following format:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> stat -f "%Sp -> owner=%SHp group=%SMp other=%SLp" .
drwxr-xr-x -> owner=rwx group=r-x other=r-x
.Ed
.Pp
In order to determine the three files that have been modified most recently,
you could use the following format:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> stat -f "%m%t%Sm %N" /tmp/* | sort -rn | head -3 | cut -f2-
Apr 25 11:47:00 2002 /tmp/blah
Apr 25 10:36:34 2002 /tmp/bar
Apr 24 16:47:35 2002 /tmp/foo
.Ed
.Pp
User names, group names, and file names that contain spaces
or other special characters may be encoded in
.Xr vis 3
style, using the
.Sq Cm \&#
flag:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
> ln -s 'target with spaces' 'link with spaces'
> stat -f "%#N%#SY" 'link with spaces'
link\eswith\esspaces -> target\eswith\esspaces
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr basename 1 ,
.Xr dirname 1 ,
.Xr find 1 ,
.Xr ls 1 ,
.Xr readlink 1 ,
.Xr fstat 2 ,
.Xr lstat 2 ,
.Xr readlink 2 ,
.Xr stat 2 ,
.Xr printf 3 ,
.Xr realpath 3 ,
.Xr strftime 3
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility appeared in
.Nx 1.6 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
The
.Nm
utility was written by
.An Andrew Brown
.Aq atatat@NetBSD.org .
This man page was written by
.An Jan Schaumann
.Aq jschauma@NetBSD.org .