stat

Display file and filesystem metadata

TLDR

Display file status

$ stat [file]

Display in terse format

$ stat -t [file]

Display filesystem status

$ stat -f [file]

Custom format output

$ stat -c "%n: %s bytes" [file]

Show access time

$ stat -c "%x" [file]

Show modification time

$ stat -c "%y" [file]

Show permissions in octal

$ stat -c "%a" [file]

Show all info for multiple files

$ stat [file1] [file2] [file3]

Follow symbolic links

$ stat -L [symlink]

stat displays detailed information about files or filesystems. It shows metadata including size, permissions, ownership, timestamps, inode number, and device information.The default output includes file name, size, blocks, device, inode, links, access permissions, ownership, and access/modify/change times. Custom format strings allow selecting specific fields.stat is useful for scripting when specific file attributes are needed, or for investigating file properties not shown by ls.

PARAMETERS

-f, --file-system

Display filesystem status instead of file.

-L, --dereference

Follow symbolic links.

-t, --terse

Print terse output.

-c format, --format= format

Use custom format string.

--printf= format

Like --format, but interpret backslash escapes and no trailing newline.

FORMAT SEQUENCES (FILE)

%a: Access rights in octal%A: Access rights in human readable form%F: File type%g: Group ID%G: Group name%h: Number of hard links%i: Inode number%n: File name%s: Size in bytes%u: User ID%U: User name%x: Access time%y: Modification time%z: Change time

FORMAT SEQUENCES (FILESYSTEM)

%a: Free blocks%b: Total blocks%f: Free blocks (non-root)%n: File name%s: Block size%T: Filesystem type

INSTALL

sudo apt install coreutils

sudo dnf install coreutils

sudo pacman -S coreutils

sudo apk add coreutils

sudo zypper install coreutils

brew install coreutils

nix profile install nixpkgs#coreutils

CAVEATS

Output format differs between GNU stat (Linux) and BSD stat (macOS). Some filesystems don't support all attributes. Access times may be disabled on some systems for performance.

HISTORY

stat has different origins on different systems. The GNU version (part of coreutils) was written by Michael Meskes in 2001. BSD systems have their own implementation with slightly different syntax. The command provides a standard interface to the stat() system call.