xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/stat.2 (revision 3816d47b2c42fcd6e549e3407f842a5b1a1d23ad)
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30.\"     @(#)stat.2	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
31.\"
32.Dd June 9, 2007
33.Dt STAT 2
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm stat ,
37.Nm lstat ,
38.Nm fstat
39.Nd get file status
40.Sh LIBRARY
41.Lb libc
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.In sys/stat.h
44.Ft int
45.Fn stat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb"
46.Ft int
47.Fn lstat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb"
48.Ft int
49.Fn fstat "int fd" "struct stat *sb"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Fn stat
53function obtains information about the file pointed to by
54.Fa path .
55Read, write or execute
56permission of the named file is not required, but all directories
57listed in the path name leading to the file must be searchable.
58.Pp
59.Fn lstat
60is like
61.Fn stat
62except in the case where the named file is a symbolic link,
63in which case
64.Fn lstat
65returns information about the link,
66while
67.Fn stat
68returns information about the file the link references.
69.Pp
70The
71.Fn fstat
72function obtains the same information about an open file
73known by the file descriptor
74.Fa fd .
75.Pp
76The
77.Fa sb
78argument is a pointer to a
79.Fa stat
80structure
81as defined by
82.Aq Pa sys/stat.h
83(shown below)
84and into which information is placed concerning the file.
85.Bd -literal
86struct stat {
87    dev_t     st_dev;     /* device containing the file */
88    ino_t     st_ino;     /* file's serial number */
89    mode_t    st_mode;    /* file's mode (protection and type) */
90    nlink_t   st_nlink;   /* number of hard links to the file */
91    uid_t     st_uid;     /* user-id of owner */
92    gid_t     st_gid;     /* group-id of owner */
93    dev_t     st_rdev;    /* device type, for device special file */
94#if defined(_NETBSD_SOURCE)
95    struct timespec st_atimespec;  /* time of last access */
96    struct timespec st_mtimespec;  /* time of last data modification */
97    struct timespec st_ctimespec;  /* time of last file status change */
98#else
99    time_t    st_atime;            /* time of last access */
100    long      st_atimensec;        /* nsec of last access */
101    time_t    st_mtime;            /* time of last data modification */
102    long      st_mtimensec;        /* nsec of last data modification */
103    time_t    st_ctime;            /* time of last file status change */
104    long      st_ctimensec;        /* nsec of last file status change */
105#endif
106    off_t     st_size;    /* file size, in bytes */
107    blkcnt_t  st_blocks;  /* blocks allocated for file */
108    blksize_t st_blksize; /* optimal file sys I/O ops blocksize */
109    uint32_t st_flags;   /* user defined flags for file */
110    uint32_t st_gen;     /* file generation number */
111#if defined(_NETBSD_SOURCE)
112    struct timespec st_birthtimespec;	/* time of inode creation */
113#else
114    time_t    st_birthtime;             /* time of inode creation */
115    long      st_birthtimensec;         /* nsec of inode creation */
116#endif
117};
118.Ed
119.Pp
120The time-related fields of
121.Fa struct stat
122are as follows:
123.Bl -tag -width XXXst_birthtime
124.It st_atime
125Time when file data was last accessed.
126Changed by the
127.Xr mknod 2 ,
128.Xr utimes 2
129and
130.Xr read 2
131system calls.
132.It st_mtime
133Time when file data was last modified.
134Changed by the
135.Xr mknod 2 ,
136.Xr utimes 2
137and
138.Xr write 2
139system calls.
140.It st_ctime
141Time when file status was last changed (file metadata modification).
142Changed by the
143.Xr chflags 2 ,
144.Xr chmod 2 ,
145.Xr chown 2 ,
146.Xr link 2 ,
147.Xr mknod 2 ,
148.Xr rename 2 ,
149.Xr unlink 2 ,
150.Xr utimes 2
151and
152.Xr write 2
153system calls.
154.It st_birthtime
155Time when the inode was created.
156.El
157.Pp
158If
159.Dv _NETBSD_SOURCE
160is defined, the time-related fields are defined as:
161.Bd -literal
162#if defined(_NETBSD_SOURCE)
163#define st_atime                st_atimespec.tv_sec
164#define st_atimensec            st_atimespec.tv_nsec
165#define st_mtime                st_mtimespec.tv_sec
166#define st_mtimensec            st_mtimespec.tv_nsec
167#define st_ctime                st_ctimespec.tv_sec
168#define st_ctimensec            st_ctimespec.tv_nsec
169#define st_birthtime            st_birthtimespec.tv_sec
170#define st_birthtimensec        st_birthtimespec.tv_nsec
171#endif
172.Ed
173.Pp
174The size-related fields of the
175.Fa struct stat
176are as follows:
177.Bl -tag -width XXXst_blksize
178.It st_size
179The size of the file in bytes.
180A directory will be a multiple of the size of the
181.Xr dirent 5
182structure.
183Some filesystems (notably ZFS) return the number of enties in the directory
184instead of the size in bytes.
185.It st_blksize
186The optimal I/O block size for the file.
187.It st_blocks
188The actual number of blocks allocated for the file in 512-byte units.
189As short symbolic links are stored in the inode, this number may
190be zero.
191.El
192.Pp
193The status information word
194.Fa st_mode
195has the following bits:
196.Bd -literal
197#define S_IFMT 0170000           /* type of file */
198#define        S_IFIFO  0010000  /* named pipe (fifo) */
199#define        S_IFCHR  0020000  /* character special */
200#define        S_IFDIR  0040000  /* directory */
201#define        S_IFBLK  0060000  /* block special */
202#define        S_IFREG  0100000  /* regular */
203#define        S_IFLNK  0120000  /* symbolic link */
204#define        S_IFSOCK 0140000  /* socket */
205#define        S_IFWHT  0160000  /* whiteout */
206#define S_ISUID 0004000  /* set user id on execution */
207#define S_ISGID 0002000  /* set group id on execution */
208#define S_ISVTX 0001000  /* save swapped text even after use */
209#define S_IRUSR 0000400  /* read permission, owner */
210#define S_IWUSR 0000200  /* write permission, owner */
211#define S_IXUSR 0000100  /* execute/search permission, owner */
212#define S_IRGRP 0000040  /* read permission, group */
213#define S_IWGRP 0000020  /* write permission, group */
214#define S_IXGRP 0000010  /* execute/search permission, group */
215#define S_IROTH 0000004  /* read permission, other */
216#define S_IWOTH 0000002  /* write permission, other */
217#define S_IXOTH 0000001  /* execute/search permission, other */
218.Ed
219.Pp
220For a list of access modes, see
221.Aq Pa sys/stat.h ,
222.Xr access 2
223and
224.Xr chmod 2 .
225.Pp
226The status information word
227.Fa st_flags
228has the following bits:
229.Bd -literal
230#define UF_NODUMP	0x00000001 /* do not dump file */
231#define UF_IMMUTABLE	0x00000002 /* file may not be changed */
232#define UF_APPEND	0x00000004 /* writes to file may only append */
233#define UF_OPAQUE	0x00000008 /* directory is opaque wrt. union */
234#define SF_ARCHIVED	0x00010000 /* file is archived */
235#define SF_IMMUTABLE	0x00020000 /* file may not be changed */
236#define SF_APPEND	0x00040000 /* writes to file may only append */
237.Ed
238.Pp
239For a description of the flags, see
240.Xr chflags 2 .
241.Sh RETURN VALUES
242Upon successful completion a value of 0 is returned.
243Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
244.Va errno
245is set to indicate the error.
246.Sh COMPATIBILITY
247Previous versions of the system used different types for the
248.Li st_dev ,
249.Li st_uid ,
250.Li st_gid ,
251.Li st_rdev ,
252.Li st_size ,
253.Li st_blksize
254and
255.Li st_blocks
256fields.
257.Sh ERRORS
258.Fn stat
259and
260.Fn lstat
261will fail if:
262.Bl -tag -width Er
263.It Bq Er EACCES
264Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix.
265.It Bq Er EBADF
266A badly formed v-node was encountered.
267This can happen if a file system information node is incorrect.
268.It Bq Er EFAULT
269.Fa sb
270or
271.Em name
272points to an invalid address.
273.It Bq Er EIO
274An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
275.It Bq Er ELOOP
276Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
277.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
278A component of a pathname exceeded
279.Dv { NAME_MAX }
280characters, or an entire path name exceeded
281.Dv { PATH_MAX }
282characters.
283.It Bq Er ENOENT
284The named file does not exist.
285.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
286A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
287.It Bq Er ENXIO
288The named file is a character special or block
289special file, and the device associated with this special file
290does not exist.
291.El
292.Pp
293.Fn fstat
294will fail if:
295.Bl -tag -width Er
296.It Bq Er EBADF
297.Fa fd
298is not a valid open file descriptor.
299.It Bq Er EFAULT
300.Fa sb
301points to an invalid address.
302.It Bq Er EIO
303An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
304.El
305.Sh SEE ALSO
306.Xr chflags 2 ,
307.Xr chmod 2 ,
308.Xr chown 2 ,
309.Xr utimes 2 ,
310.Xr dir 5 ,
311.Xr symlink 7
312.Sh STANDARDS
313The
314.Fn stat
315and
316.Fn fstat
317functions conform to
318.St -p1003.1-90 .
319.Sh HISTORY
320A
321.Fn lstat
322function call appeared in
323.Bx 4.2 .
324.Sh BUGS
325Applying
326.Fn fstat
327to a socket (and thus to a pipe)
328returns a zero'd buffer,
329except for the blocksize field,
330and a unique device and file serial number.
331