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NAME
stat - file status
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/stat.h>
struct stat {
dev_t st_dev; /* ID of device containing file */
ino_t st_ino; /* Inode number */
mode_t st_mode; /* File type and mode */
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 ID (if special file) */
off_t st_size; /* Total size, in bytes */
blksize_t st_blksize; /* Block size for filesystem I/O */
blkcnt_t st_blocks; /* Number of 512 B blocks allocated */
/* Since POSIX.1-2008, this structure supports nanosecond
precision for the following timestamp fields.
For the details before POSIX.1-2008, see VERSIONS. */
struct timespec st_atim; /* Time of last access */
struct timespec st_mtim; /* Time of last modification */
struct timespec st_ctim; /* Time of last status change */
#define st_atime st_atim.tv_sec /* Backward compatibility */
#define st_mtime st_mtim.tv_sec
#define st_ctime st_ctim.tv_sec
};
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
st_atim, st_mtim, st_ctim:
Since glibc 2.12:
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700
glibc 2.19 and earlier:
_BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
Describes information about a file.
The fields are as follows:
st_dev This field describes the device on which this file resides. (The major(3) and minor(3) macros may
be useful to decompose the device ID in this field.)
st_ino This field contains the file's inode number.
st_mode
This field contains the file type and mode. See inode(7) for further information.
st_nlink
This field contains the number of hard links to the file.
st_uid This field contains the user ID of the owner of the file.
st_gid This field contains the ID of the group owner of the file.
st_rdev
This field describes the device that this file (inode) represents.
st_size
This field gives the size of the file (if it is a regular file or a symbolic link) in bytes. The
size of a symbolic link is the length of the pathname it contains, without a terminating null
byte.
st_blksize
This field gives the "preferred" block size for efficient filesystem I/O.
st_blocks
This field indicates the number of blocks allocated to the file, in 512-byte units. (This may be
smaller than st_size/512 when the file has holes.)
st_atime
This is the time of the last access of file data.
st_mtime
This is the time of last modification of file data.
st_ctime
This is the file's last status change timestamp (time of last change to the inode).
For further information on the above fields, see inode(7).
STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2008.
HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001.
Old kernels and old standards did not support nanosecond timestamp fields. Instead, there were three
timestamp fields—st_atime, st_mtime, and st_ctime—typed as time_t that recorded timestamps with one-
second precision.
Since Linux 2.5.48, the stat structure supports nanosecond resolution for the three file timestamp
fields. The nanosecond components of each timestamp are available via names of the form st_atim.tv_nsec,
if suitable test macros are defined. Nanosecond timestamps were standardized in POSIX.1-2008, and,
starting with glibc 2.12, glibc exposes the nanosecond component names if _POSIX_C_SOURCE is defined with
the value 200809L or greater, or _XOPEN_SOURCE is defined with the value 700 or greater. Up to and
including glibc 2.19, the definitions of the nanoseconds components are also defined if _BSD_SOURCE or
_SVID_SOURCE is defined. If none of the aforementioned macros are defined, then the nanosecond values
are exposed with names of the form st_atimensec.
NOTES
The following header also provides this type: <ftw.h>.
SEE ALSO
stat(2), inode(7)