libc/sys/stat.2

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.Dd $Mdocdate: January 30 2009 $
.Dt STAT 2
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm stat ,
.Nm lstat ,
.Nm fstat
.Nd get file status
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
.Fd #include <sys/stat.h>
.Ft int
.Fn stat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb"
.Ft int
.Fn lstat "const char *path" "struct stat *sb"
.Ft int
.Fn fstat "int fd" "struct stat *sb"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn stat
function obtains information about the file pointed to by
.Fa 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.
.Pp
The
.Fn lstat
function is identical to
.Fn stat
except when the named file is a symbolic link,
in which case
.Fn lstat
returns information about the link itself, not the file the link references.
Unlike other file system objects,
symbolic links do not have an owner, group, access mode, times, etc.
Instead, these attributes are taken from the directory that
contains the link.
The only attributes returned from an
.Fn lstat
that refer to the symbolic link itself are the file type
.Pq Dv S_IFLNK ,
size, blocks, and link count (always 1).
.Pp
The
.Fn fstat
function obtains the same information about an open file
known by the file descriptor
.Fa fd .
.Pp
The
.Fa sb
argument is a pointer to a
.Fn stat
structure
as defined by
.Aq Pa sys/stat.h
(shown below)
and into which information is placed concerning the file.
.Bd -literal
struct stat {
    dev_t      st_dev;    /* inode's device */
    ino_t      st_ino;    /* inode's number */
    mode_t     st_mode;   /* inode protection mode */
    nlink_t    st_nlink;  /* number of hard links */
    uid_t      st_uid;    /* user ID of the file's owner */
    gid_t      st_gid;    /* group ID of the file's group */
    dev_t      st_rdev;   /* device type */
    struct timespec st_atim;  /* time of last access */
    struct timespec st_mtim;  /* time of last data modification */
    struct timespec st_ctim;  /* time of last file status change */
    off_t      st_size;   /* file size, in bytes */
    int64_t    st_blocks; /* blocks allocated for file */
    u_int32_t  st_blksize;/* optimal blocksize for I/O */
    u_int32_t  st_flags;  /* user defined flags for file */
    u_int32_t  st_gen;    /* file generation number */
};
.Ed
.Pp
The time-related fields of
.Li struct stat
are represented in
.Li struct timespec
format, which has nanosecond precision.
However, the actual precision is generally limited by the file
system holding the file.
The fields are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width XXXst_mtim
.It Fa st_atim
Time when file data was last accessed.
Set when the file system object was created and updated by the
.Xr utimes 2
and
.Xr read 2
system calls.
.It Fa st_mtim
Time when file data was last modified.
Changed by the
.Xr truncate 2 ,
.Xr utimes 2 ,
and
.Xr write 2
system calls.
For directories, changed by any system call that alters which files are
in the directory, such as the
.Xr unlink 2 ,
.Xr rename 2 ,
.Xr mkdir 2 ,
and
.Xr symlink 2
system calls.
.It Fa st_ctime
Time when file status was last changed (inode data modification).
Changed by the
.Xr chmod 2 ,
.Xr chown 2 ,
.Xr link 2 ,
.Xr rename 2 ,
.Xr unlink 2 ,
.Xr utimes 2 ,
and
.Xr write 2
system calls.
.El
.Pp
In addition, all the time fields are set to the current time when
a file system object is first created by the
.Xr mkdir 2 ,
.Xr mkfifo 2 ,
.Xr mknod 2 ,
.Xr open 2 ,
and
.Xr symlink 2
system calls.
.Pp
For compatibility with previous standards,
.Fa st_atime ,
.Fa st_mtime ,
and
.Fa st_ctime
macros are provided that expand to the
.Fa tv_secs
member of their respective
.Li struct timespec
member.
Deprecated macros are also provided for some transitional names:
.Fa st_atimensec ,
.Fa st_mtimensec ,
.Fa st_ctimensec ,
.Fa st_atimespec ,
.Fa st_mtimespec ,
and
.Fa st_ctimespec
.Pp
The size-related fields of the
.Li struct stat
are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width XXXst_blksize
.It Fa st_blksize
The optimal I/O block size for the file.
.It Fa 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.
.El
.Pp
The status information word
.Fa st_mode
has the following bits:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
#define S_IFMT   0170000  /* type of file mask */
#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_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_IRWXU  0000700  /* RWX mask for owner */
#define S_IRUSR  0000400  /* R for owner */
#define S_IWUSR  0000200  /* W for owner */
#define S_IXUSR  0000100  /* X for owner */
#define S_IRWXG  0000070  /* RWX mask for group */
#define S_IRGRP  0000040  /* R for group */
#define S_IWGRP  0000020  /* W for group */
#define S_IXGRP  0000010  /* X for group */
#define S_IRWXO  0000007  /* RWX mask for other */
#define S_IROTH  0000004  /* R for other */
#define S_IWOTH  0000002  /* W for other */
#define S_IXOTH  0000001  /* X for other */
.Ed
.Pp
The following macros test a file's type.
If the file is of that type, a non-zero value is returned;
otherwise, 0 is returned.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
S_ISBLK(st_mode m)  /* block special */
S_ISCHR(st_mode m)  /* char special */
S_ISDIR(st_mode m)  /* directory */
S_ISFIFO(st_mode m) /* fifo */
S_ISLNK(st_mode m)  /* symbolic link */
S_ISREG(st_mode m)  /* regular file */
S_ISSOCK(st_mode m) /* socket */
.Ed
.Pp
For a list of access modes, see
.Aq Pa sys/stat.h ,
.Xr access 2 ,
and
.Xr chmod 2 .
.Sh RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion a value of 0 is returned.
Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
.Va errno
is set to indicate the error.
.Sh ERRORS
.Fn stat
and
.Fn lstat
will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
A component of a pathname exceeded
.Dv NAME_MAX
characters, or an entire path name exceeded
.Dv PATH_MAX
characters.
.It Bq Er ENOENT
The named file does not exist.
.It Bq Er EACCES
Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix.
.It Bq Er ELOOP
Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
.It Bq Er EFAULT
.Fa sb
or
.Em name
points to an invalid address.
.It Bq Er EIO
An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
.El
.Pp
.Fn fstat
will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EBADF
.Fa fd
is not a valid open file descriptor.
.It Bq Er EFAULT
.Fa sb
points to an invalid address.
.It Bq Er EIO
An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr chmod 2 ,
.Xr chown 2 ,
.Xr utimes 2 ,
.Xr symlink 7
.Sh STANDARDS
Previous versions of the system used different types for the
.Fa st_dev ,
.Fa st_uid ,
.Fa st_gid ,
.Fa st_rdev ,
.Fa st_size ,
.Fa st_blksize ,
and
.Fa st_blocks
fields.
.Pp
The
.Fn stat
and
.Fn fstat
function calls are expected to conform to
.St -p1003.1-88 .
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Fn stat
function appeared in
.At v2 .
An
.Fn lstat
function call appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .
.Sh CAVEATS
The file generation number,
.Fa st_gen ,
is only available to the superuser.
.Pp
Certain programs written when the timestamps were just of type
.Li time_t
assumed that the members were consecutive (and could therefore
be placed directly to
.Xr utimes 2 ) .
The transition to timestamps of type
.Li struct timespec
broke them irrevocably.
.Sh BUGS
Applying
.Fn fstat
to a socket (and thus to a pipe)
returns a zeroed buffer,
except for the blocksize field,
and a unique device and inode number.