The Linux stat Command: File Statistics
The Linux stat Command: File Statistics
stat displays detailed file and filesystem metadata - inode, timestamps, permissions, and more.
Basic Usage
stat file.txt
Shows file details.
Output Details
- Size — File size in bytes
- Blocks — Blocks allocated
- IO Block — Block size
- File type
- Device — Device number
- Inode — Inode number
- Links — Hard link count
- Access — Permissions (octal & symbolic)
- Uid/Gid — User and group IDs
- Access — atime (last accessed)
- Modify — mtime (last modified)
- Change — ctime (last status change)
- Birth — Creation time
Options
-c— Custom format-L— Follow symlinks-t— Terse output-f— Filesystem stats
Examples
Custom format
stat -c "%s %n" file.txt
Size and name only.
Timestamps only
stat -c "%y %x %z" file.txt
mtime, atime, ctime.
