stat
stat linux command cheatsheet by Thamizhiniyan C S
Introduction
The stat
command prints details about files and file systems.
Syntax
stat [arguments] [filename]
stat [argument] = "FORMAT" [filename]
Important Flags
Flag | Description |
---|---|
| follow links |
| display file system status instead of file status |
| specify how to use cached attributes; useful on remote file systems. See MODE below |
| use the specified FORMAT instead of the default; output a newline after each use of FORMAT |
| like --format, but interpret backslash escapes, and do not output a mandatory trailing newline; if you want a newline, include \n in FORMAT |
| print the information in terse form |
| display this help and exit |
| output version information and exit |
MODE values
Flag | Description |
---|---|
| will use cached attributes if available, while |
| will try to synchronize with the latest attributes, and |
| will leave it up to the underlying file system. |
Examples
Command | Description |
---|---|
show details about the file system the file _MyFile_ is on | |
To print information about the file system a particular [directory](https://phoenixnap.com/glossary/what-is-a-directory) is on | |
To print info on multiple files | |
To print info about the symlink | |
To get information about the file the symlink points to | |
To print an one line, space separated output of all details | |
Prints only the _MyFile_ inode number | |
Prints only the _MyFile_ inode number | |
Prints the file type, user ID, and last modified ti |
Customize Output Format
The two arguments used to customize the stat
output are:
-c
(--format
). Tellsstat
to use the specified format string instead of the default format.--printf
. Similar to-c
, but it allows the use of backslashes in the format string.
The following table lists the most commonly used format operands for files and directories:
Operand | Files | File Systems |
---|---|---|
%a | Access rights in octal format. | Free blocks available to non-superuser. |
%A | Access rights in human-readable form. | / |
%b | Number of blocks allocated. | Total data blocks in a file system. |
%B | The size in bytes of each block. | / |
%c | / | Total data blocks in a file system. |
%C | The raw mode in hex. | / |
%d | Device number in decimal. | Total file nodes in a file system. |
%D | Device number in hex. | / |
%f | Raw mode in hex. | Free file nodes in a file system. |
%F | File type. | / |
%g | Group owner ID. | / |
%G | Group owner name. | / |
%h | Hard links number. | / |
%i | Inode number. | File system ID in hex. |
%l | / | Free blocks in the file system. |
%m | Mount point. |
|
%n | File name. | File name. |
%N | Quoted file name with dereferencing if a symlink is used. | / |
%o | Optimal I/O transfer size hint. | / |
%s | Total size. | Block size. |
%S | / | Fundamental block size. |
%t | Major device type in hex. | File system type in hex. |
%T | Minor device type in hex. | File system type in human-readable form. |
%u | User ID. | / |
%U | User name. | / |
%w | File birth time, human-readable. | / |
%W | File birth time, seconds since Epoch. | / |
%x | Last access time, human-readable. | / |
%X | Last access time, seconds since Epoch. | / |
%y | Last data modification time, human-readable. | / |
%Y | Last data modification time, seconds since Epoch. | / |
%z | Last status change time, human-readable. | / |
%Z | Last status change time, seconds since Epoch. | / |
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