| <html lang="en"> |
| <head> |
| <title>Reading Attributes - The GNU C Library</title> |
| <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> |
| <meta name="description" content="The GNU C Library"> |
| <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> |
| <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> |
| <link rel="up" href="File-Attributes.html#File-Attributes" title="File Attributes"> |
| <link rel="prev" href="Attribute-Meanings.html#Attribute-Meanings" title="Attribute Meanings"> |
| <link rel="next" href="Testing-File-Type.html#Testing-File-Type" title="Testing File Type"> |
| <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> |
| <!-- |
| This file documents the GNU C library. |
| |
| This is Edition 0.12, last updated 2007-10-27, |
| of `The GNU C Library Reference Manual', for version |
| 2.8 (Sourcery G++ Lite 2011.03-41). |
| |
| Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, |
| 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
| |
| Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document |
| under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or |
| any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the |
| Invariant Sections being ``Free Software Needs Free Documentation'' |
| and ``GNU Lesser General Public License'', the Front-Cover texts being |
| ``A GNU Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A |
| copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free |
| Documentation License". |
| |
| (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to |
| copy and modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF |
| supports it in developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''--> |
| <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> |
| <style type="text/css"><!-- |
| pre.display { font-family:inherit } |
| pre.format { font-family:inherit } |
| pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } |
| pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } |
| pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } |
| pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } |
| span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } |
| span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } |
| span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } |
| --></style> |
| <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../cs.css"> |
| </head> |
| <body> |
| <div class="node"> |
| <a name="Reading-Attributes"></a> |
| <p> |
| Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Testing-File-Type.html#Testing-File-Type">Testing File Type</a>, |
| Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Attribute-Meanings.html#Attribute-Meanings">Attribute Meanings</a>, |
| Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="File-Attributes.html#File-Attributes">File Attributes</a> |
| <hr> |
| </div> |
| |
| <h4 class="subsection">14.9.2 Reading the Attributes of a File</h4> |
| |
| <p>To examine the attributes of files, use the functions <code>stat</code>, |
| <code>fstat</code> and <code>lstat</code>. They return the attribute information in |
| a <code>struct stat</code> object. All three functions are declared in the |
| header file <samp><span class="file">sys/stat.h</span></samp>. |
| |
| <!-- sys/stat.h --> |
| <!-- POSIX.1 --> |
| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>stat</b> (<var>const char *filename, struct stat *buf</var>)<var><a name="index-stat-1505"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>The <code>stat</code> function returns information about the attributes of the |
| file named by <var>filename</var><!-- /@w --> in the structure pointed to by <var>buf</var>. |
| |
| <p>If <var>filename</var> is the name of a symbolic link, the attributes you get |
| describe the file that the link points to. If the link points to a |
| nonexistent file name, then <code>stat</code> fails reporting a nonexistent |
| file. |
| |
| <p>The return value is <code>0</code> if the operation is successful, or |
| <code>-1</code> on failure. In addition to the usual file name errors |
| (see <a href="File-Name-Errors.html#File-Name-Errors">File Name Errors</a>, the following <code>errno</code> error conditions |
| are defined for this function: |
| |
| <dl> |
| <dt><code>ENOENT</code><dd>The file named by <var>filename</var> doesn't exist. |
| </dl> |
| |
| <p>When the sources are compiled with <code>_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64</code> this |
| function is in fact <code>stat64</code> since the LFS interface transparently |
| replaces the normal implementation. |
| </p></blockquote></div> |
| |
| <!-- sys/stat.h --> |
| <!-- Unix98 --> |
| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>stat64</b> (<var>const char *filename, struct stat64 *buf</var>)<var><a name="index-stat64-1506"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>This function is similar to <code>stat</code> but it is also able to work on |
| files larger then 2^31 bytes on 32-bit systems. To be able to do |
| this the result is stored in a variable of type <code>struct stat64</code> to |
| which <var>buf</var> must point. |
| |
| <p>When the sources are compiled with <code>_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64</code> this |
| function is available under the name <code>stat</code> and so transparently |
| replaces the interface for small files on 32-bit machines. |
| </p></blockquote></div> |
| |
| <!-- sys/stat.h --> |
| <!-- POSIX.1 --> |
| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>fstat</b> (<var>int filedes, struct stat *buf</var>)<var><a name="index-fstat-1507"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>The <code>fstat</code> function is like <code>stat</code>, except that it takes an |
| open file descriptor as an argument instead of a file name. |
| See <a href="Low_002dLevel-I_002fO.html#Low_002dLevel-I_002fO">Low-Level I/O</a>. |
| |
| <p>Like <code>stat</code>, <code>fstat</code> returns <code>0</code> on success and <code>-1</code> |
| on failure. The following <code>errno</code> error conditions are defined for |
| <code>fstat</code>: |
| |
| <dl> |
| <dt><code>EBADF</code><dd>The <var>filedes</var> argument is not a valid file descriptor. |
| </dl> |
| |
| <p>When the sources are compiled with <code>_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64</code> this |
| function is in fact <code>fstat64</code> since the LFS interface transparently |
| replaces the normal implementation. |
| </p></blockquote></div> |
| |
| <!-- sys/stat.h --> |
| <!-- Unix98 --> |
| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>fstat64</b> (<var>int filedes, struct stat64 *buf</var>)<var><a name="index-fstat64-1508"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>This function is similar to <code>fstat</code> but is able to work on large |
| files on 32-bit platforms. For large files the file descriptor |
| <var>filedes</var> should be obtained by <code>open64</code> or <code>creat64</code>. |
| The <var>buf</var> pointer points to a variable of type <code>struct stat64</code> |
| which is able to represent the larger values. |
| |
| <p>When the sources are compiled with <code>_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64</code> this |
| function is available under the name <code>fstat</code> and so transparently |
| replaces the interface for small files on 32-bit machines. |
| </p></blockquote></div> |
| |
| <!-- sys/stat.h --> |
| <!-- BSD --> |
| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>lstat</b> (<var>const char *filename, struct stat *buf</var>)<var><a name="index-lstat-1509"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>The <code>lstat</code> function is like <code>stat</code>, except that it does not |
| follow symbolic links. If <var>filename</var> is the name of a symbolic |
| link, <code>lstat</code> returns information about the link itself; otherwise |
| <code>lstat</code> works like <code>stat</code>. See <a href="Symbolic-Links.html#Symbolic-Links">Symbolic Links</a>. |
| |
| <p>When the sources are compiled with <code>_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64</code> this |
| function is in fact <code>lstat64</code> since the LFS interface transparently |
| replaces the normal implementation. |
| </p></blockquote></div> |
| |
| <!-- sys/stat.h --> |
| <!-- Unix98 --> |
| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>lstat64</b> (<var>const char *filename, struct stat64 *buf</var>)<var><a name="index-lstat64-1510"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>This function is similar to <code>lstat</code> but it is also able to work on |
| files larger then 2^31 bytes on 32-bit systems. To be able to do |
| this the result is stored in a variable of type <code>struct stat64</code> to |
| which <var>buf</var> must point. |
| |
| <p>When the sources are compiled with <code>_FILE_OFFSET_BITS == 64</code> this |
| function is available under the name <code>lstat</code> and so transparently |
| replaces the interface for small files on 32-bit machines. |
| </p></blockquote></div> |
| |
| </body></html> |
| |
