STAT(1)

📦
version 9.12 · 27 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 stat(1) — the girlies' guide to peeking at files 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to stat, the User Commands icon of the GNU coreutils world. this is the manual page for stat(1), and by the end of it you're gonna be reading file metadata like it's your notes app. let's GO ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

stat — display file or file system status

like, literally just ✨tell me everything about this file✨ energy.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

stat [OPTION]... FILE...

so it's giving: options, then one or more files. simple. iconic. no notes. 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Display file or file system status. that's the whole job, and she does it flawlessly. 👑

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. (yes bestie, that's the rule, no skipping it.)

  • -L, --dereference — follow links. like, actually go through the door instead of just describing the door 🚪
  • -f, --file-system — display file system status instead of file status. the whole filesystem, not just one lil file 🗂️
  • --cached=MODE — specify how to use cached attributes; useful on remote file systems. See MODE below 👀
  • -c, --format=FORMAT — use the specified FORMAT instead of the default; output a newline after each use of FORMAT. your custom lil template moment 🎨
  • --printf=FORMAT — like --format, but interpret backslash escapes, and do not output a mandatory trailing newline; if you want a newline, include \n in FORMAT. (yes she's the wilder sister of --format, no cap) 🌀
  • -t, --terse — print the information in terse form. short. snappy. main character with no time to waste ⚡
  • --help — display this help and exit. your bestie when you're lost 🫶
  • --version — output version information and exit. who is she? exactly. 📌

🍓 MODE, explained 🍓

The MODE argument of --cached can be: always, never, or default.

  • always will use cached attributes if available
  • never will try to synchronize with the latest attributes
  • default will leave it up to the underlying file system

so basically you're picking how much your girl trusts her memory vs. going to check the receipts in real time. 💅

✨ Valid format sequences for files (without --file-system) ✨

this is the part where you build your own output and honestly? highkey obsessed.

  • %a — permission bits in octal (see '#' and '0' printf flags)
  • %A — permission bits and file type in human readable form
  • %b — number of blocks allocated (see %B)
  • %B — the size in bytes of each block reported by %b
  • %C — SELinux security context string
  • %d — device number in decimal (st_dev)
  • %D — device number in hex (st_dev)
  • %Hd — major device number in decimal
  • %Ld — minor device number in decimal
  • %f — raw mode in hex
  • %F — file type
  • %g — group ID of owner
  • %G — group name of owner
  • %h — number of hard links
  • %i — inode number
  • %m — mount point
  • %n — file name
  • %Qn — quoted file name
  • %N — quoted file name with dereference if symbolic link
  • %o — optimal I/O transfer size hint
  • %s — total size, in bytes
  • %r — device type in decimal (st_rdev)
  • %R — device type in hex (st_rdev)
  • %Hr — major device type in decimal, for character/block device special files
  • %Lr — minor device type in decimal, for character/block device special files
  • %t — major device type in hex, for character/block device special files
  • %T — minor device type in hex, for character/block device special files
  • %u — user ID of owner
  • %U — user name of owner
  • %w — time of file birth, human-readable; - if unknown
  • %W — time of file birth, seconds since Epoch; 0 if unknown
  • %x — time of last access, human-readable
  • %X — time of last access, seconds since Epoch
  • %y — time of last data modification, human-readable
  • %Y — time of last data modification, seconds since Epoch
  • %z — time of last status change, human-readable
  • %Z — time of last status change, seconds since Epoch

🌈 Valid format sequences for file systems 🌈

now the filesystem edition, she's a whole different girlie:

  • %a — free blocks available to non-superuser
  • %b — total data blocks in file system
  • %c — total file nodes in file system
  • %d — free file nodes in file system
  • %f — free blocks in file system
  • %i — file system ID in hex
  • %l — maximum length of filenames
  • %n — file name
  • %Qn — quoted file name
  • %s — block size (for faster transfers)
  • %S — fundamental block size (for block counts)
  • %t — file system type in hex
  • %T — file system type in human readable form

💀 the --terse cheat codes 💀

--terse is equivalent to the following FORMAT:

%Qn %s %b %f %u %g %D %i %h %t %T %X %Y %Z %W %o

--terse --file-system is equivalent to the following FORMAT:

%Qn %i %l %t %s %S %b %f %a %c %d

so if you ever wondered what -t is secretly doing behind the scenes... there it is. no secrets between us bestie. 🙈

🧚 one lil heads up 🧚

Your shell may have its own version of stat, which usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer to your shell's documentation for details about the options it supports.

like, don't come for this manpage if your shell's stat is doing something different, okay? she warned you 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Written by Michael Meskes. (we stan a legend 🫶)

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

found a bug? tell the girlies, they'll fix it fr fr.

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

so like, yes you can remix it, no you cannot sue if it breaks. balance. ⚖️✨

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/stat> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) stat invocation'

okay bestie that's the whole page, you're officially a stat girlie now 💅🌸

this was GNU coreutils 9.12, dated September 2026 — slay, ate, no crumbs, periodt. 🎀🦋💖

📦 where this page comes from