_stat, _stat32, _stat64, _stati64, _stat32i64, _stat64i32, _wstat, _wstat32, _wstat64, _wstati64, _wstat32i64, _wstat64i32

Get status information on a file.

Syntax

int _stat(
   const char *path,
   struct _stat *buffer
);
int _stat32(
   const char *path,
   struct __stat32 *buffer
);
int _stat64(
   const char *path,
   struct __stat64 *buffer
);
int _stati64(
   const char *path,
   struct _stati64 *buffer
);
int _stat32i64(
   const char *path,
   struct _stat32i64 *buffer
);
int _stat64i32(
   const char *path,
   struct _stat64i32 *buffer
);
int _wstat(
   const wchar_t *path,
   struct _stat *buffer
);
int _wstat32(
   const wchar_t *path,
   struct __stat32 *buffer
);
int _wstat64(
   const wchar_t *path,
   struct __stat64 *buffer
);
int _wstati64(
   const wchar_t *path,
   struct _stati64 *buffer
);
int _wstat32i64(
   const wchar_t *path,
   struct _stat32i64 *buffer
);
int _wstat64i32(
   const wchar_t *path,
   struct _stat64i32 *buffer
);

Parameters

path
Pointer to a string containing the path of existing file or directory.

buffer
Pointer to structure that stores results.

Return value

Each of these functions returns 0 if the file-status information is obtained. A return value of -1 indicates an error, in which case errno is set to ENOENT, indicating that the filename or path couldn't be found. A return value of EINVAL indicates an invalid parameter; errno is also set to EINVAL in this case.

For more information about return codes, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

The date stamp on a file can be represented if it's later than midnight, January 1, 1970, and before 23:59:59, December 31, 3000, UTC, unless you use _stat32 or _wstat32, or have defined _USE_32BIT_TIME_T, in which case the date can be represented only until 23:59:59 January 18, 2038, UTC.

Remarks

The _stat function obtains information about the file or directory specified by path and stores it in the structure pointed to by buffer. _stat automatically handles multibyte-character string arguments as appropriate, recognizing multibyte-character sequences according to the multibyte code page currently in use.

_wstat is a wide-character version of _stat; the path argument to _wstat is a wide-character string. _wstat and _stat behave identically except that _wstat doesn't handle multibyte-character strings.

Variations of these functions support 32-bit or 64-bit time types, and 32-bit or 64-bit file lengths. The first numerical suffix (32 or 64) indicates the size of the time type used; the second suffix is either i32 or i64, indicating whether the file size is represented as a 32-bit or 64-bit integer.

_stat is equivalent to _stat64i32, and struct _stat contains a 64-bit time, unless _USE_32BIT_TIME_T is defined, in which case the old behavior is in effect; _stat uses a 32-bit time, and struct _stat contains a 32-bit time. The same is true for _stati64.

This function validates its parameters. If either path or buffer is NULL, the invalid parameter handler is invoked, as described in Parameter validation.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Time type and file length type variations of _stat

Generic-text routine mappings

The _stat structure, defined in SYS\STAT.H, includes the following fields.

If path refers to a device, the st_size, various time fields, st_dev, and st_rdev fields in the _stat structure are meaningless. Because STAT.H uses the _dev_t type that is defined in TYPES.H, you must include TYPES.H before STAT.H in your code.

Requirements

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

// crt_stat.c
// This program uses the _stat function to
// report information about the file named crt_stat.c.

#include <time.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>

int main( void )
{
   struct _stat buf;
   int result;
   char timebuf[26];
   char* filename = "crt_stat.c";
   errno_t err;

   // Get data associated with "crt_stat.c":
   result = _stat( filename, &buf );

   // Check if statistics are valid:
   if( result != 0 )
   {
      perror( "Problem getting information" );
      switch (errno)
      {
         case ENOENT:
           printf("File %s not found.\n", filename);
           break;
         case EINVAL:
           printf("Invalid parameter to _stat.\n");
           break;
         default:
           /* Should never be reached. */
           printf("Unexpected error in _stat.\n");
      }
   }
   else
   {
      // Output some of the statistics:
      printf( "File size     : %ld\n", buf.st_size );
      printf( "Drive         : %c:\n", buf.st_dev + 'A' );
      err = ctime_s(timebuf, 26, &buf.st_mtime);
      if (err)
      {
         printf("Invalid arguments to ctime_s.");
         exit(1);
      }
      printf( "Time modified : %s", timebuf );
   }
}

File size     : 732
Drive         : C:
Time modified : Thu Feb 07 14:39:36 2002

See also

File handling
_access, _waccess
_fstat, _fstat32, _fstat64, _fstati64, _fstat32i64, _fstat64i32
_getmbcp
_setmbcp