STAT(1)

📦 version 0.12.0, in arch rolling

🌸 STAT(1) — the file-status glow-up 🌸

okay bestie, so this is stat from the General Commands Manual (section 1, the "commands you actually type" section, iykyk) and it's literally the tool that tells you everything about a file or a whole file system. like the receipts. the whole vibe check of a file. let's go 💅

✨ NAME ✨

stat — Display file or file system status. that's it, that's the whole name. iconic brevity 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

stat [OPTION]... FILE...

so you give it some options (zero or more, we love optionality), and then one or more files. multiple files? absolutely valid. it'll do the thing for each one, no cap 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Display file or file system status. literally what it says on the tin — you point it at a file, it spills all the tea: size, permissions, timestamps, inode, all of it. and with the right flag it does the same for a whole mounted file system. main character energy ⭐

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -L, --dereference — follow links 🦋 like, if the file is a symlink, don't tell me about the link, tell me about the thing it points at. follow it. go get it.
  • -f, --file-system — display file system status instead of file status ✨ we're looking at the whole filesystem now, not just one little file. big picture behavior.
  • -t, --terse — print the information in terse form 💀 short and snappy, no frills, just the facts.
  • -c, --format <FORMAT> — use the specified FORMAT instead of the default; output a newline after each use of FORMAT 🌈 (yes, you get a newline for free each time. built-in.)
  • --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 🫶 so like. it's --format's feral cousin. escapes work, but the newline is your responsibility. you want a newline? put \n in there yourself. periodt.
  • -h, --help — Print help 💜 the "bestie explain" button.
  • -V, --version — Print version 🌸 the "which one am I even running" button.
  • <files> — the actual file(s) you're asking about. the whole point. the moment. 👑

🔥 EXTRA 🔥

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

these go in your -c / --printf FORMAT string, bestie. every single one slays differently:

  • %a — access rights in octal (note '#' and '0' printf flags) 💅
  • %A — access rights 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
  • %D — device number in hex
  • %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
  • %N — quoted file name with dereference (follow) if symbolic link 🦋
  • %o — optimal I/O transfer size hint
  • %s — total size, in bytes
  • %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

heads up — these are different from the file ones, and some letters repeat with totally different meanings (looking at you %a, %d, %f, %n 😭). read carefully:

  • %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
  • %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
⚠️ NOTE: 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 me if your shell's stat acts different — check its docs first, bestie 🙈

👑 VERSION 👑

this whole thing is v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0 — put some respect on it 💜

and that's the page! dated 2026-09-17, from the General Commands Manual, page STAT(1) — go forth and stat everything, you absolute icon 🎀✨💖🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from