LINUX COMMAND ATLAS · COMMAND GUIDE

Linux stat command

Display detailed metadata about a file or directory.

GNU Coreutils

Syntax

Command form

stat [OPTION]... FILE...

5 options

Option	What it does
`-c, --format=FORMAT`	Print selected metadata using a format string.
`-f, --file-system`	Show filesystem status rather than file status.
`-L, --dereference`	Follow symbolic links and report the target.
`-t, --terse`	Print information in a concise format.
`--printf=FORMAT`	Format output without a trailing newline.

3 examples

Display detailed metadata about a file or directory.

stat ./report.csv

Show detailed metadata for a file.

stat report.txt

Print permissions, owner, size and name.

stat -c '%A %U %s %n' report.txt

Formatting directives and fields are implementation-specific; consult the installed stat manual for exact specifiers.