_stat, _wstat, _stati64, _wstati64

Get status information on a file.

int_stat(constchar*path,struct_stat*buffer);

__int64_stati64(constchar*path,struct_stat*buffer);

int_wstat(constwchar_t*path,struct_stat*buffer);

__int64_wstati64(constwchar_t*path,struct_stat*buffer);

For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

Libraries

Return Value

Each of these functions returns 0 if the file-status information is obtained. A return value of –1 indicates an error, in which case errno is set to ENOENT, indicating that the filename or path could not be found.

Parameters

path

Path of existing file

buffer

Pointer to structure that stores results

Remarks

The _stat function obtains information about the file or directory specified by path and stores it in the structure pointed to by buffer. _stat automatically handles multibyte-character string arguments as appropriate, recognizing multibyte-character sequences according to the multibyte code page currently in use.

_wstat is a wide-character version of _stat; the path argument to _wstat is a wide-character string. _wstat and _stat behave identically except that _wstat does not handle multibyte-character strings.

Generic-Text Routine Mappings

The _stat structure, defined in SYS\STAT.H, includes the following fields.

st_gid

Numeric identifier of group that owns file (UNIX-specific) This field will always be zero on NT systems. A redirected file is classified as an NT file.

st_atime

Time of last access of file.

st_ctime

Time of creation of file.

st_dev

Drive number of the disk containing the file (same as st_rdev).

st_ino

Number of the information node (the inode) for the file (UNIX-specific). On UNIX file systems, the inode describes the file date and time stamps, permissions, and content. When files are hard-linked to one another, they share the same inode. The inode, and therefore st_ino, has no meaning in the FAT, HPFS, or NTFS file systems.

st_mode

Bit mask for file-mode information. The _S_IFDIR bit is set if path specifies a directory; the _S_IFREG bit is set if path specifies an ordinary file or a device. User read/write bits are set according to the file’s permission mode; user execute bits are set according to the filename extension.

st_mtime

Time of last modification of file.

st_nlink

Always 1 on non-NTFS file systems.

st_rdev

Drive number of the disk containing the file (same as st_dev).

st_size

Size of the file in bytes; a 64-bit integer for _stati64 and _wstati64

st_uid

Numeric identifier of user who owns file (UNIX-specific). This field will always be zero on NT systems. A redirected file is classified as an NT file.

If path refers to a device, the size, time, _dev, and _rdev fields in the _stat structure are meaningless. Because STAT.H uses the _dev_t type that is defined in TYPES.H, you must include TYPES.H before STAT.H in your code.

Example

/* STAT.C: This program uses the _stat function to
 * report information about the file named STAT.C.
 */

#include <time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdio.h>

void main( void )
{
   struct _stat buf;
   int result;
   char buffer[] = "A line to output";

   /* Get data associated with "stat.c": */
   result = _stat( "stat.c", &buf );

   /* Check if statistics are valid: */
   if( result != 0 )
      perror( "Problem getting information" );
   else
   {
      /* Output some of the statistics: */
      printf( "File size     : %ld\n", buf.st_size );
      printf( "Drive         : %c:\n", buf.st_dev + 'A' );
      printf( "Time modified : %s", ctime( &buf.st_atime ) );
   }
}

Output

File size     : 745
Drive         : C:
Time modified : Tue May 03 00:00:00 1994

File Handling Routines

See Also   _access, _fstat, _getmbcp, _setmbcp