xref: /freebsd-12.1/lib/libc/sys/stat.2 (revision bb487d2b)
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28.\"     @(#)stat.2	8.4 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
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31.Dd January 14, 2016
32.Dt STAT 2
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm stat ,
36.Nm lstat ,
37.Nm fstat ,
38.Nm fstatat
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 * restrict path" "struct stat * restrict sb"
46.Ft int
47.Fn lstat "const char * restrict path" "struct stat * restrict sb"
48.Ft int
49.Fn fstat "int fd" "struct stat *sb"
50.Ft int
51.Fn fstatat "int fd" "const char *path" "struct stat *buf" "int flag"
52.Sh DESCRIPTION
53The
54.Fn stat
55system call obtains information about the file pointed to by
56.Fa path .
57Read, write or execute
58permission of the named file is not required, but all directories
59listed in the path name leading to the file must be searchable.
60.Pp
61The
62.Fn lstat
63system call is like
64.Fn stat
65except in the case where the named file is a symbolic link,
66in which case
67.Fn lstat
68returns information about the link,
69while
70.Fn stat
71returns information about the file the link references.
72.Pp
73The
74.Fn fstat
75system call obtains the same information about an open file
76known by the file descriptor
77.Fa fd .
78.Pp
79The
80.Fn fstatat
81system call is equivalent to
82.Fn stat
83and
84.Fn lstat
85except in the case where the
86.Fa path
87specifies a relative path.
88In this case the status is retrieved from a file relative to
89the directory associated with the file descriptor
90.Fa fd
91instead of the current working directory.
92.Pp
93The values for the
94.Fa flag
95are constructed by a bitwise-inclusive OR of flags from the following list,
96defined in
97.In fcntl.h :
98.Bl -tag -width indent
99.It Dv AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
100If
101.Fa path
102names a symbolic link, the status of the symbolic link is returned.
103.El
104.Pp
105If
106.Fn fstatat
107is passed the special value
108.Dv AT_FDCWD
109in the
110.Fa fd
111parameter, the current working directory is used and the behavior is
112identical to a call to
113.Fn stat
114or
115.Fn lstat
116respectively, depending on whether or not the
117.Dv AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
118bit is set in
119.Fa flag .
120.Pp
121The
122.Fa sb
123argument is a pointer to a
124.Vt stat
125structure
126as defined by
127.In sys/stat.h
128and into which information is placed concerning the file.
129.Pp
130The fields of
131.Vt "struct stat"
132related to the file system are as follows:
133.Bl -tag -width ".Va st_nlink"
134.It Va st_dev
135The numeric ID of the device containing the file.
136.It Va st_ino
137The file's inode number.
138.It Va st_nlink
139The number of hard links to the file.
140.El
141.Pp
142The
143.Va st_dev
144and
145.Va st_ino
146fields together identify the file uniquely within the system.
147.Pp
148The time-related fields of
149.Vt "struct stat"
150are as follows:
151.Bl -tag -width ".Va st_birthtim"
152.It Va st_atim
153Time when file data last accessed.
154Changed by the
155.Xr mknod 2 ,
156.Xr utimes 2 ,
157.Xr read 2
158and
159.Xr readv 2
160system calls.
161.It Va st_mtim
162Time when file data last modified.
163Changed by the
164.Xr mkdir 2 ,
165.Xr mkfifo 2 ,
166.Xr mknod 2 ,
167.Xr utimes 2 ,
168.Xr write 2
169and
170.Xr writev 2
171system calls.
172.It Va st_ctim
173Time when file status was last changed (inode data modification).
174Changed by the
175.Xr chflags 2 ,
176.Xr chmod 2 ,
177.Xr chown 2 ,
178.Xr creat 2 ,
179.Xr link 2 ,
180.Xr mkdir 2 ,
181.Xr mkfifo 2 ,
182.Xr mknod 2 ,
183.Xr rename 2 ,
184.Xr rmdir 2 ,
185.Xr symlink 2 ,
186.Xr truncate 2 ,
187.Xr unlink 2 ,
188.Xr utimes 2 ,
189.Xr write 2
190and
191.Xr writev 2
192system calls.
193.It Va st_birthtim
194Time when the inode was created.
195.El
196.Pp
197The following time-related macros are defined for compatibility:
198.Bd -literal
199#define	st_atime		st_atim.tv_sec
200#define	st_mtime		st_mtim.tv_sec
201#define	st_ctime		st_ctim.tv_sec
202#ifndef _POSIX_SOURCE
203#define	st_birthtime		st_birthtim.tv_sec
204#endif
205
206#ifndef _POSIX_SOURCE
207#define	st_atimespec		st_atim
208#define	st_mtimespec		st_mtim
209#define	st_ctimespec		st_ctim
210#define	st_birthtimespec	st_birthtim
211#endif
212.Ed
213.Pp
214The size-related fields of the
215.Vt "struct stat"
216are as follows:
217.Bl -tag -width ".Va st_blksize"
218.It Va st_size
219The file size in bytes.
220.It Va st_blksize
221The optimal I/O block size for the file.
222.It Va st_blocks
223The actual number of blocks allocated for the file in 512-byte units.
224As short symbolic links are stored in the inode, this number may
225be zero.
226.El
227.Pp
228The access-related fields of
229.Vt "struct stat"
230are as follows:
231.Bl -tag -width ".Va st_mode"
232.It Va st_uid
233The user ID of the file's owner.
234.It Va st_gid
235The group ID of the file.
236.It Va st_mode
237Status of the file (see below).
238.El
239.Pp
240The status information word
241.Fa st_mode
242has the following bits:
243.Bd -literal
244#define S_IFMT   0170000  /* type of file mask */
245#define S_IFIFO  0010000  /* named pipe (fifo) */
246#define S_IFCHR  0020000  /* character special */
247#define S_IFDIR  0040000  /* directory */
248#define S_IFBLK  0060000  /* block special */
249#define S_IFREG  0100000  /* regular */
250#define S_IFLNK  0120000  /* symbolic link */
251#define S_IFSOCK 0140000  /* socket */
252#define S_IFWHT  0160000  /* whiteout */
253#define S_ISUID  0004000  /* set user id on execution */
254#define S_ISGID  0002000  /* set group id on execution */
255#define S_ISVTX  0001000  /* save swapped text even after use */
256#define S_IRWXU  0000700  /* RWX mask for owner */
257#define S_IRUSR  0000400  /* read permission, owner */
258#define S_IWUSR  0000200  /* write permission, owner */
259#define S_IXUSR  0000100  /* execute/search permission, owner */
260#define S_IRWXG  0000070  /* RWX mask for group */
261#define S_IRGRP  0000040  /* read permission, group */
262#define S_IWGRP  0000020  /* write permission, group */
263#define S_IXGRP  0000010  /* execute/search permission, group */
264#define S_IRWXO  0000007  /* RWX mask for other */
265#define S_IROTH  0000004  /* read permission, other */
266#define S_IWOTH  0000002  /* write permission, other */
267#define S_IXOTH  0000001  /* execute/search permission, other */
268.Ed
269.Pp
270For a list of access modes, see
271.In sys/stat.h ,
272.Xr access 2
273and
274.Xr chmod 2 .
275The following macros are available to test whether a
276.Va st_mode
277value passed in the
278.Fa m
279argument corresponds to a file of the specified type:
280.Bl -tag -width ".Fn S_ISFIFO m"
281.It Fn S_ISBLK m
282Test for a block special file.
283.It Fn S_ISCHR m
284Test for a character special file.
285.It Fn S_ISDIR m
286Test for a directory.
287.It Fn S_ISFIFO m
288Test for a pipe or FIFO special file.
289.It Fn S_ISLNK m
290Test for a symbolic link.
291.It Fn S_ISREG m
292Test for a regular file.
293.It Fn S_ISSOCK m
294Test for a socket.
295.It Fn S_ISWHT m
296Test for a whiteout.
297.El
298.Pp
299The macros evaluate to a non-zero value if the test is true
300or to the value 0 if the test is false.
301.Sh RETURN VALUES
302.Rv -std
303.Sh COMPATIBILITY
304Previous versions of the system used different types for the
305.Va st_dev ,
306.Va st_uid ,
307.Va st_gid ,
308.Va st_rdev ,
309.Va st_size ,
310.Va st_blksize
311and
312.Va st_blocks
313fields.
314.Sh ERRORS
315The
316.Fn stat
317and
318.Fn lstat
319system calls will fail if:
320.Bl -tag -width Er
321.It Bq Er EACCES
322Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix.
323.It Bq Er EFAULT
324The
325.Fa sb
326or
327.Fa path
328argument
329points to an invalid address.
330.It Bq Er EIO
331An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
332.It Bq Er ELOOP
333Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
334.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
335A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters,
336or an entire path name exceeded 1023 characters.
337.It Bq Er ENOENT
338The named file does not exist.
339.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
340A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
341.It Bq Er EOVERFLOW
342The file size in bytes cannot be
343represented correctly in the structure pointed to by
344.Fa sb .
345.El
346.Pp
347The
348.Fn fstat
349system call will fail if:
350.Bl -tag -width Er
351.It Bq Er EBADF
352The
353.Fa fd
354argument
355is not a valid open file descriptor.
356.It Bq Er EFAULT
357The
358.Fa sb
359argument
360points to an invalid address.
361.It Bq Er EIO
362An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
363.It Bq Er EOVERFLOW
364The file size in bytes cannot be
365represented correctly in the structure pointed to by
366.Fa sb .
367.El
368.Pp
369In addition to the errors returned by the
370.Fn lstat ,
371the
372.Fn fstatat
373may fail if:
374.Bl -tag -width Er
375.It Bq Er EBADF
376The
377.Fa path
378argument does not specify an absolute path and the
379.Fa fd
380argument is neither
381.Dv AT_FDCWD
382nor a valid file descriptor open for searching.
383.It Bq Er EINVAL
384The value of the
385.Fa flag
386argument is not valid.
387.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
388The
389.Fa path
390argument is not an absolute path and
391.Fa fd
392is neither
393.Dv AT_FDCWD
394nor a file descriptor associated with a directory.
395.El
396.Sh SEE ALSO
397.Xr access 2 ,
398.Xr chmod 2 ,
399.Xr chown 2 ,
400.Xr fhstat 2 ,
401.Xr statfs 2 ,
402.Xr utimes 2 ,
403.Xr sticky 7 ,
404.Xr symlink 7
405.Sh STANDARDS
406The
407.Fn stat
408and
409.Fn fstat
410system calls are expected to conform to
411.St -p1003.1-90 .
412The
413.Fn fstatat
414system call follows The Open Group Extended API Set 2 specification.
415.Sh HISTORY
416The
417.Fn stat
418and
419.Fn fstat
420system calls appeared in
421.At v7 .
422The
423.Fn lstat
424system call appeared in
425.Bx 4.2 .
426The
427.Fn fstatat
428system call appeared in
429.Fx 8.0 .
430.Sh BUGS
431Applying
432.Fn fstat
433to a socket
434returns a zeroed buffer,
435except for the blocksize field,
436and a unique device and inode number.
437