stat() --  System Call

Find file attributes
#include <sys/stat.h>
int stat(file, statptr)
char *file; struct stat *statptr;

stat()  returns  a  structure  that  contains  the attributes  of  a  file,
including protection information, file type, and file size.

file points to the path name of file.  statptr points to a structure of the
type stat, as  defined in the header file stat.h.  For information on stat,
see the Lexicon entry for stat.h.

Example

The following example uses stat() to print a file's status.

#include <sys/stat.h>
main()
{
    struct stat sbuf;
    int status;

    if (status = stat("/usr/include", &sbuf)) {
        printf("Can't find\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    printf("uid = %d gid = %d\n", sbuf.st_uid, sbuf.st_gid);
}

See Also

chmod(),
chown(),
libc,
ls,
open(),
stat.h
POSIX Standard, §5.6.2

Diagnostics

stat()  returns -1  if an  error occurs,  e.g., the  file cannot  be found.
Otherwise, it returns zero.

Notes

stat() differs  from the  related function  fstat() mainly in  that fstat()
accesses  the  file  through  its  descriptor,  which  was  returned  by  a
successful call  to open(), whereas  stat() takes the file's  path name and
opens it before checking its status.

The call

    stat("", &s)

is identical to

    stat(".", &s)

Both calls succeed.  The POSIX Standard forbids the former call -- in fact,
the  POSIX Standard  forbids  the NULL  string  as a  path  name under  any
circumstances; therefore you should never use the former call.

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness