stat(1)

NAME
stat - print inode contents

SYNOPSIS
stat [-f format] filenames ...

DESCRIPTION

Stat prints out the contents of an inode as they appear to stat(2) in a human-readable format.

Here is a sample output from stat:
  File: "/"
  Size: 1024         Allocated Blocks: 2            Filetype: Directory
  Mode: (0755/drwxr-xr-x)         Uid: (0/root)  Gid: (0/system)
Device:  0,0   Inode: 2         Links: 20
Access: Wed Jan  8 12:40:16 1986(00000.00:00:01)
Modify: Wed Dec 18 09:32:09 1985(00021.03:08:08)
Change: Wed Dec 18 09:32:09 1985(00021.03:08:08)

OPTIONS

-f format
    Display the i-node according to the format characters in "format". Syntax is like that of printf(3s) with the following formatting characters:
    	%f		File type.
    	%d		Device inode lives on.
    	%i		Inode itself.
    	%p		Protection bits.
    	%l		# of links.
    	%u		The user id
    	%g		The group id.
    	%t		Type of device.
    	%s		Total size of file.
    	%a		Access time.
    	%m		Modified time.
    	%c		Status change time.
    	%b		# of blocks allocated.

SEE ALSO
stat(2), ls(1)

DIAGNOSTICS
"Can't stat file" or "Can't lstat file" usually means that it doesn't exist. "Can't readlink file" implies something is amiss with a symbolic link.

BUGS
The output is still not entirely comprehensible.

HISTORY
A stat command appeared in the days of Version 6 AT&T UNIX around 1980.