In this article, I will take you through 6 Popular Examples of stat command in Linux/Unix. stat is an open source command Line tool to check the File and Filesystem stats. This tool will provide useful information about file/filesystem size, total blocks, available blocks, file permissions, file access time, file modify time, file change time etc. We will go through multiple examples to understand the usage of stat command in Linux.

Syntax

stat [OPTION]... FILE...

Examples of stat command in Linux/Unix

Also Read : 8 Most Popular mkdir command in Linux with Examples

Example 1: How to check the version of stat command in Linux/Unix

If you want to check the stat command in Linux then you need to use stat --version command as shown below. As you can see from below output, current stat version is 8.22.

[root@localhost ~]# stat --version
stat (GNU coreutils) 8.22
Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Michael Meskes.

Example 2: How to check Filesystem status using stat command in Linux/Unix

If you want to check the Filesystem status then you need to use -f option with stat command in Linux as shown below. In this example, we are trying to check the status of /dev filesystem using stat -f /dev command.

[root@localhost ~]# stat -f /dev
File: "/dev"
ID: 0 Namelen: 255 Type: tmpfs
Block size: 4096 Fundamental block size: 4096
Blocks: Total: 355189 Free: 355189 Available: 355189
Inodes: Total: 355189 Free: 354803

-f : display file system status instead of file status.

Below are the output parameters of stat command in Linux/Unix.

File :  Name of the given file.

ID : id of the given file

Namelen : Maximum Length of File Name

Type : type of filesystem (for only Filesystems)

Size : size of the file in bytes.

Blocks : Number of allocated blocks the file takes.

IO Block : Block size in bytes

File type : Regular File, Soft Link or Hard Link of original file etc.

Device : Device number in hex and decimal.

Uid : User ID /File Owner Name.

Gid : Group ID/File Group Name.

Inode : Inode number.

Links : Total number of hard links.

Access : File permissions in the numeric and symbolic methods.

Context : SELinux status

Access : Last File Access time.

Modify : Last File Modified time.

Change : Last File Attribute change time.

Birth : File creation time (only supported in Unix).

Example 3: How to Check File Status using stat command in Linux/Unix

If you want to check the file status then you need to use below stat command in Linux. Format specifiers can be used to get only the required information about a file and filesystem in Linux/Unix instead of showing complete information. In this example, we are trying to check the status of file testfile.txt using stat testfile.txt as specified below.

[root@localhost ~]# stat testfile.txt
File: ‘testfile.txt’
Size: 58 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: fd00h/64768d Inode: 67352527 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2020-06-18 03:51:36.358476235 -0400
Modify: 2020-06-18 03:51:26.877245520 -0400
Change: 2020-06-18 03:51:26.883745450 -0400
Birth: -

Example 4: How to Use Format Specifiers with stat command in Linux

There are multiple format specifiers available to be used with stat command in Linux. We will go through all of them one by one in below sections.

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%a" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
600

%a : access rights in octal

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%A" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-rw-------

%A : access rights in human readable form

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%b" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
8

%b : number of blocks allocated (see %B)

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%B" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
512

%B : the size in bytes of each block reported by %b

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%C" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
system_u:object_r:etc_t:s0

%C : SELinux security context string

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%d" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
64768

%d : device number in decimal

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%D" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
fd00

%D : device number in hex

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%f" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
8180

%f : raw mode in hex

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%F" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
regular file

%F : file type

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%g" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
0

%g : group ID of owner

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%G" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
root

%G : group name of owner

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%h" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
1

%h : number of hard links

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%i" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
219047

%i : inode number

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%m" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
/

%m : mount point

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%n" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
/etc/ssh/sshd_config

%n : file name

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%N" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
‘/etc/ssh/sshd_config’

%N : quoted file name with dereference if symbolic link

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%o" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
4096

%o : optimal I/O transfer size hint

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%s" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
3907

%s : total size, in bytes

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%t" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
0

%t : major device type in hex, for character/block device special files

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%T" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
0

%T : minor device type in hex, for character/block device special files

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%u" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
0

%u : user ID of owner

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%U" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
root

%U : user name of owner

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%w" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-

%w : time of file birth, human-readable; - if unknown

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%W" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
0

%W : time of file birth, seconds since Epoch; 0 if unknown

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%x" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
2020-06-19 02:14:29.116567465 -0400

%x : time of last access, human-readable

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%X" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
1592547269

%X : time of last access, seconds since Epoch

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%y" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
2019-08-08 21:40:39.000000000 -0400

%y : time of last modification, human-readable

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%Y" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
1565314839

%Y : time of last modification, seconds since Epoch

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%z" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
2020-04-23 16:10:02.267286283 -0400

%z : time of last change, human-readable

[root@localhost ~]# stat --format="%Z" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
1587672602

%Z : time of last change, seconds since Epoch

Example 5: How to follow Link using stat command in Linux/Unix

If you want to follow the Links then you need to use -L option with stat command in Linux as shown below. In this example, we are trying to follow the Link of file /etc/ssh/sshd_config using stat -L /etc/ssh/sshd_config command.

[root@localhost ~]# stat -L /etc/ssh/sshd_config
File: ‘/etc/ssh/sshd_config’
Size: 3907 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: fd00h/64768d Inode: 219047 Links: 1
Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2020-06-19 02:14:29.116567465 -0400
Modify: 2019-08-08 21:40:39.000000000 -0400
Change: 2020-04-23 16:10:02.267286283 -0400
Birth: -

-L : follow links

Example 6: How to check other options of stat command in Linux/Unix

If you want to check all the other options of stat command in Linux then you need to use stat --help command as shown below.

[root@localhost ~]# stat --help
Usage: stat [OPTION]... FILE...
Display file or file system status.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
-L, --dereference follow links
-f, --file-system display file system status instead of file status
-c --format=FORMAT use the specified FORMAT instead of the default;
output a newline after each use of FORMAT
--printf=FORMAT like --format, but interpret backslash escapes,
and do not output a mandatory trailing newline;
if you want a newline, include \n in FORMAT
-t, --terse print the information in terse form
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit

The valid format sequences for files (without --file-system):

%a access rights in octal
%A access rights in human readable form
%b number of blocks allocated (see %B)
%B the size in bytes of each block reported by %b
%C SELinux security context string
%d device number in decimal
%D device number in hex
%f raw mode 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
%o optimal I/O transfer size hint
%s total size, in bytes
%t major device type in hex, for character/block device special files
%T minor device type in hex, for character/block device special files
%u user ID of owner
%U user name of owner
%w time of file birth, human-readable; - if unknown
%W time of file birth, seconds since Epoch; 0 if unknown
%x time of last access, human-readable
%X time of last access, seconds since Epoch
%y time of last modification, human-readable
%Y time of last modification, seconds since Epoch
%z time of last change, human-readable
%Z time of last change, seconds since Epoch

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