stat

Additional Notes

stat prints detailed metadata about files, directories, links, and filesystems. It shows information that ls -l summarizes, including inode number, size, block count, permissions, owner IDs, device IDs, and timestamps.

Use stat when you need exact metadata for debugging permissions, scripts, backups, sync tools, or filesystem behavior.

Syntax

stat [options] file...
stat -f [options] filesystem-path

Parameters

• file: File, directory, or link to inspect.
• filesystem-path: Path whose containing filesystem should be inspected with -f.
• options: Output formatting and symlink handling flags.

Common Options

• -c FORMAT: Print a custom format.
• --printf FORMAT: Print a custom format without automatic trailing newline.
• -f: Show filesystem status instead of file status.
• -L: Follow symbolic links.
• -t: Terse output.

Useful Format Codes

• %n: File name.
• %s: Size in bytes.
• %U: Owner user name.
• %G: Owner group name.
• %u: Numeric user ID.
• %g: Numeric group ID.
• %a: Permissions in octal form.
• %A: Permissions in human-readable form.
• %i: Inode number.
• %y: Modification time.

Examples

stat app.log

Show full metadata for a file.

stat -c "%n %s bytes" app.log

Print a compact custom line.

stat -c "%a %U:%G %n" /var/www/html

Show octal permissions and owner information.

stat -L symlink

Show metadata for the symlink target.

stat -f /

Show filesystem metadata for the root filesystem.

Practical Notes

• Use stat in scripts when parsing ls output would be fragile.
• Remember that access time may be affected by mount options such as noatime or relatime.
• Use -L only when you want target metadata instead of symlink metadata.