079-the-stat-command.md

The stat command

The stat command lets you display file or file system status. It gives you useful information about the file (or directory) on which you use it.

Examples:

1. Basic command usage

stat file.txt

2. Use the -c (or --format) argument to only display information you want to see (here, the total size, in bytes)

stat file.txt -c %s

Syntax:

stat [OPTION] [FILE]

Additional Flags and their Functionalities:

Short Flag	Long Flag	Description
-L	--dereference	Follow links
-f	--file-system	Display file system status instead of file status
-c	--format=FORMAT	Specify the format (see below)
-t	--terse	Print the information in terse form
-	--cached=MODE	Specify how to use cached attributes. Can be: always, never, or default
-	--printf=FORMAT	Like --format, but interpret backslash escapes (\n, \t, ...)
-	--help	Display the help and exit
-	--version	Output version information and exit

Example of Valid Format Sequences for Files:

Format	Description
%a	Permission bits in octal
%A	Permission bits and file type in human readable form
%d	Device number in decimal
%D	Device number in hex
%F	File type
%g	Group ID of owner
%G	Group name of owner
%h	Number of hard links
%i	Inode number
%m	Mount point
%n	File name
%N	Quoted file name with dereference if symbolic link
%s	Total size, in bytes
%u	User ID of owner
%U	User name of owner
%w	Time of file birth, human-readable; - if unknown
%x	Time of last access, human-readable
%y	Time of last data modification, human-readable
%z	Time of last status change, human-readable