fstat(1) fstat(1)
Oct 30 1998
NAME
fstat - shell - File Status Information
SYNOPSIS
fstat [-e[msg]] [-c[nnn]] [+format]
USAGE
The "fstat"-command is much similar to the well-know "ls", but with
two important differences:
a) file names are not supplied as command line arguments
but read from standard input;
b) output format can be freely chosen, and there is some
information that "ls" cannot produce;
DESCRIPTION
This program reads file names from stdin and prints further
information, mainly from the file's i-node. Output format
can be tailored by a format-string that follows a plus sign.
The options are:
-e[msg] message to print for files that cannot be stat()-ed
(if 'msg' is missing, such files are ignored)
-c[nnn] number of bytes to include into the checksum
(see also %H-place-holder, if 'nnn' is missing or
zero, checksum is calculated for the complete file)
Within the format string certain place-holders are recognized:
%t file type (in octal)
%T file type (coded as in 'ls -l')
%V file type (in words)
%p permissions (in octal);
%P permissions (in coded as in 'ls -l');
%d device number (in decimal);
%i inode number (in decimal);
%n number of links (in decimal);
%u file owner (decimal UID)
%U file owner (name)
%g file group (decimal GID)
%G file group (name)
%s file size in byte
%a access time (seconds since urknall)
%A access time (YYMMDDhhmmss)
%c creation time (seconds since urknall)
%C creation time (YYMMDDhhmmss)
%m modification time (seconds since urknall)
%M modification time (YYMMDDhhmmss)
%h file header (first two bytes in hex);
%H checksum of first portion of file;
- 1 - Formatted: November 3, 2025
fstat(1) fstat(1)
Oct 30 1998
%f last part of file name;
%F full file name (as read from input);
An optional number between '%' and format specification is
treated as field width. Output is always right justified in
a zone of the given width. If a value does not fit into that
zone, more room is provided automatically. To print a %-sign,
two such characters must be used in sequence. Other
characters
in the format string are printed as they appear, except that
some basic ''-escape-sequences are recognized and interpreted
as usual. A ' interpretation and will also suppress
the new line character
that otherwise terminates each line of output.
NOTE that while in a user defined error message (see 'e'-
option
above) place holders are interpreted in the same way as in the
format string, when this message is printed only '%f' and '%F'
have meaningful values; in addition, '%e' may be used to print
the current value of 'errno'.
Copyright (1994)
Martin Weitzel, Darmstadt, Germany
Man Page
Stephanie Nile, HPUX, Liverpool
- 2 - Formatted: November 3, 2025
