Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide

Name

stat — stdin  stdout  - file  -- opt  --help  --version

Synopsis

stat [options] files

The stat command displays important attributes of files. By default, file information is printed in one long line:

➜ stat myfile
234881026 3004666 -rw-r--r-- 1 lisa staff 0 1264 ...

but you can display it in a more friendly manner with the -x option:

➜ stat -x myfile
  File: "myfile"
  Size: 1264        FileType: Regular File
  Mode: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: (501/lisa) Gid: (20/staff)
Device: 14,2   Inode: 3004666    Links: 1
Access: Sun Mar 11 20:31:53 2012
Modify: Wed Mar  7 22:05:56 2012
Change: Wed Mar  7 22:05:56 2012

This includes the filename, size in bytes (1,264), file type (Regular File), permissions in octal (0644), permissions in the format of “ls -l” (-rw-r--r--), owner’s user ID (501), owner’s name (lisa), owner’s group ID (20), owner’s group name (staff), device information (14,2), inode number (3004666), number of hard links (1), and timestamps of the file’s most recent access, modification, and status change.

Useful options

-L	Follow symbolic links and report on the file they point to.
-x	Display the results in a friendly, readable format.
-fformat	Display the results in a highly configurable format; see the manpage for details.