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stat(2)                     BSD System Calls Manual                    stat(2)


NAME

     fstat, fstat64, lstat, lstat64, stat, stat64 -- get file status


SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/stat.h>

     int
     fstat(int fildes, struct stat *buf);

     int
     lstat(const char *restrict path, struct stat *restrict buf);

     int
     stat(const char *restrict path, struct stat *restrict buf);


TRANSITIIONAL SYNOPSIS (NOW DEPRECATED)

     int
     fstat64(int fildes, struct stat64 *buf);

     int
     lstat64(const char *restrict path, struct stat64 *restrict buf);

     int
     stat64(const char *restrict path, struct stat64 *restrict buf);


DESCRIPTION

     The stat() function obtains information about the file pointed to by
     path.  Read, write or execute permission of the named file is not
     required, but all directories listed in the path name leading to the file
     must be searchable.

     The lstat() function is like stat() except in the case where the named
     file is a symbolic link; lstat() returns information about the link,
     while stat() returns information about the file the link references.
     Unlike other filesystem objects, symbolic links may not have an owner,
     group, access mode, times, etc.  Instead, these attributes may be taken
     from the directory that contains the link.  In this case, the only
     attributes returned from an lstat() that refer to the symbolic link
     itself are the file type (S_IFLNK), size, blocks, and link count (always
     1).

     The fstat() obtains the same information about an open file known by the
     file descriptor fildes.

     The buf argument is a pointer to a stat structure as defined by
     <sys/stat.h> and into which information is placed concerning the file.
     When the macro _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE is not defined (see below for
     more information about this macro), the stat structure is defined as:

     struct stat { /* when _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE is NOT defined */
         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 of 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 */
     };

     However, when the macro _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE is defined, the stat
     structure will now be defined as:

     struct stat { /* when _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE is defined */
         dev_t           st_dev;           /* ID of device containing file */
         mode_t          st_mode;          /* Mode of file (see below) */
         nlink_t         st_nlink;         /* Number of hard links */
         ino_t           st_ino;           /* File serial number */
         uid_t           st_uid;           /* User ID of the file */
         gid_t           st_gid;           /* Group ID of the file */
         dev_t           st_rdev;          /* Device ID */
         struct timespec st_atimespec;     /* time of last access */
         struct timespec st_mtimespec;     /* time of last data modification */
         struct timespec st_ctimespec;     /* time of last status change */
         struct timespec st_birthtimespec; /* time of file creation(birth) */
         off_t           st_size;          /* file size, in bytes */
         blkcnt_t        st_blocks;        /* blocks allocated for file */
         blksize_t       st_blksize;       /* optimal blocksize for I/O */
         uint32_t        st_flags;         /* user defined flags for file */
         uint32_t        st_gen;           /* file generation number */
         int32_t         st_lspare;        /* RESERVED: DO NOT USE! */
         int64_t         st_qspare[2];     /* RESERVED: DO NOT USE! */
     };

     The time-related fields of struct stat are as follows:

     st_atime         Time when file data last accessed.  Changed by the
                      mknod(2), utimes(2) and read(2) system calls.

     st_mtime         Time when file data last modified.  Changed by the
                      mknod(2), utimes(2) and write(2) system calls.

     st_ctime         Time when file status was last changed (inode data modi-
                      fication).  Changed by the chmod(2), chown(2), link(2),
                      mknod(2), rename(2), unlink(2), utimes(2) and write(2)
                      system calls.

     st_birthtime     Time of file creation. Only set once when the file is
                      created. This field is only available in the 64 bit
                      inode variants. On filesystems where birthtime is not
                      available, this field holds the ctime instead.

     The size-related fields of the structures are as follows:

     st_blksize     The optimal I/O block size for the file.

     st_blocks      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 be zero.

     The status information word st_mode has the following bits:

     #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_IFWHT  0160000  /* whiteout */
     #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 <sys/stat.h>, access(2) and chmod(2).

     For a list of the file flags in the st_flags field, see <sys/stat.h> and
     chflags(2).


_DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE

     In order to accommodate advanced capabilities of newer file systems, the
     struct stat, struct statfs, and struct dirent data structures were
     updated in Mac OSX 10.5.

     The most obvious change is the increased size of ino_t from 32 bits to 64
     bits.  As a consequence, storing an ino_t in an int is no longer safe,
     and file formats storing ino_t as 32-bit values may need to be updated.
     There are other changes as well, such as the widening of f_fstypename,
     fstat(2)
     and dir(5) for more detail on the specific changes to the other affected
     data structures.

     On platforms that existed before these updates were available, ABI com-
     patibility is achieved by providing two implementations for related func-
     tions: one using the legacy data structures and one using the updated
     data structures.  Variants which make use of the newer structures have
     their symbols suffixed with $INODE64.  These $INODE64 suffixes are auto-
     matically appended by the compiler tool-chain and should not be used
     directly.

     Platforms that were released after these updates only have the newer
     variants available to them.  These platforms have the macro
     _DARWIN_FEATURE_ONLY_64_BIT_INODE defined.

     The _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE macro should not be set directly.
     Instead, developers should make use of the _DARWIN_NO_64_BIT_INODE or
     _DARWIN_USE_64_BIT_INODE macros when the default variant is not desired.
     The following table details the effects of defining these macros for dif-
     ferent deployment targets.

                  _DARWIN_FEATURE_ONLY_64_BIT_INODE not defined
             -------------------------+-------------------------------
                                      |       Deployment Target
                  user defines:       |   < 10.5       10.5    > 10.5
             -------------------------+-------------------------------
                      (none)          |   32-bit      32-bit   64-bit
             _DARWIN_NO_64_BIT_INODE  |   32-bit      32-bit   32-bit
             _DARWIN_USE_64_BIT_INODE |   32-bit      64-bit   64-bit
             -------------------------+-------------------------------

                    _DARWIN_FEATURE_ONLY_64_BIT_INODE defined
             -------------------------+-------------------------------
                  user defines:       | Any Deployment Target
             -------------------------+-------------------------------
                      (none)          | 64-bit-only
             _DARWIN_NO_64_BIT_INODE  |   (error)
             _DARWIN_USE_64_BIT_INODE | 64-bit-only
             -------------------------+-------------------------------

           32-bit       32-bit inode values are enabled, and the legacy struc-
                        tures involving the ino_t type are in use.  The macro
                        _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE is not defined.

           64-bit       64-bit inode values are enabled, and the expanded
                        structures involving the ino_t type are in use.  The
                        macro _DARWIN_FEATURE_64_BIT_INODE is defined, and
                        loader symbols will contain the $INODE64 suffix.

           64-bit-only  Like 64-bit, except loader symbols do not have the
                        $INODE64 suffix.

           (error)      A compile time error is generated.

     Due to the increased benefits of the larger structure, it is highly rec-
     ommended that developers not define _DARWIN_NO_64_BIT_INODE and make use
     of _DARWIN_USE_64_BIT_INODE when targeting Mac OSX 10.5.

     In addition to the $INODE64 suffixed symbols, variants suffixed with 64
     are also available for related functions.  These functions were provided
     as a way for developers to use the updated structures in code that also
     made use of the legacy structures.  The enlarged stat structures were
     also prefixed with 64 to distinguish them from their legacy variants.
     These functions have been deprecated and should be avoided.


RETURN VALUES

     Upon successful completion a value of 0 is returned.  Otherwise, a value
     of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.


COMPATIBILITY

     Previous versions of the system used different types for the st_dev,
     st_uid, st_gid, st_rdev, st_size, st_blksize and st_blocks fields.


ERRORS

     The fstat() system call will fail if:

     [EBADF]            fildes is not a valid open file descriptor.

     [EFAULT]           Sb points to an invalid address.

     [EIO]              An I/O error occurs while reading from or writing to
                        the file system.

     The lstat() and stat() system calls will fail if:

     [EACCES]           Search permission is denied for a component of the
                        path prefix.

     [EFAULT]           Sb or name points to an invalid address.

     [EIO]              An I/O error occurs while reading from or writing to
                        the file system.

     [ELOOP]            Too many symbolic links are encountered in translating
                        the pathname.  This is taken to be indicative of a
                        looping symbolic link.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]     A component of a pathname exceeds {NAME_MAX} charac-
                        ters, or an entire path name exceeds {PATH_MAX} char-
                        acters.

     [ENOENT]           The named file does not exist.

     [ENOTDIR]          A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

     The fstat(), lstat(), and stat() system calls will fail if:

     [EOVERFLOW]        The file size in bytes or the number of blocks allo-
                        cated to the file or the file serial number cannot be
                        represented correctly in the structure pointed to by
                        buf.


CAVEATS

     The file generation number, st_gen, is only available to the super-user.
     The fields in the stat structure currently marked st_spare1, st_spare2,
     and st_spare3 are present in preparation for inode time stamps expanding
     to 64 bits.  This, however, can break certain programs that depend on the
     time stamps being contiguous (in calls to utimes(2)).


TRANSITIONAL DESCRIPTION (NOW DEPRECATED)

     The fstat64, lstat64 and stat64 routines are equivalent to their corre-
     sponding non-64-suffixed routine, when 64-bit inodes are in effect.  They
     were added before there was support for the symbol variants, and so are
     now deprecated.  Instead of using these, set the _DARWIN_USE_64_BIT_INODE
     macro before including header files to force 64-bit inode support.

     The stat64 structure used by these deprecated routines is the same as the
     stat structure when 64-bit inodes are in effect (see above).


SEE ALSO

     chflags(2), chmod(2), chown(2), utimes(2), compat(5), statfs(2),
     symlink(7)


BUGS

     Applying fstat to a socket (and thus to a pipe) returns a zero'd buffer,
     except for the blocksize field, and a unique device and inode number.


STANDARDS

     The stat() and fstat() function calls are expected to conform to IEEE Std
     1003.1-1988 (``POSIX.1'').


HISTORY

     An lstat() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.  The stat64(), fstat64(),
     and lstat64() system calls first appeared in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and
     are now deprecated in favor of the corresponding symbol variants.

4th Berkeley Distribution        May 15, 2008        4th Berkeley Distribution

Mac OS X 10.9.1 - Generated Mon Jan 6 18:22:51 CST 2014
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