lstat(), lstat64()

Get information about a file or directory

Synopsis:

#include <sys/stat.h>

int lstat( const char* path, 
           struct stat* buf );

int lstat64( const char* path, 
             struct stat64* buf );

Library:

libc

Description:

These functions obtain information about the file or directory referenced in path. This information is placed in the structure located at the address indicated by buf.

The results of the lstat() function is identical to stat() when used on a file that isn't a symbolic link. If the file is a symbolic link then lstat() returns information about the symbolic link, while stat() continues to resolve the pathname using the contents of the symbolic link, and returns information about the resulting file.

Returns:

0

Success

-1

An error occurred (errno is set).

Errors:

See stat() for details.

Examples:

/*
 * Iterate through a list of files, and report 
 * for each if it is a symbolic link
 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int main( int argc, char **argv )
  {
    int ecode = 0;
    int n;
    struct stat sbuf;

    for( n = 1; n < argc; ++n ) {
      if( lstat( argv[n], &sbuf ) == -1 ) {
        perror( argv[n] );
        ecode++;

      } else if( S_ISLNK( sbuf.st_mode ) ) {
        printf( "%s is a symbolic link\n", argv[n] );

      } else {
        printf( "%s is not a symbolic link\n", argv[n] );
      }
    }
    return( ecode );
  }

Classification:

lstat() is POSIX 1003.1a; lstat64() is for large-file support

See also:

errno, fstat(), readlink(), stat()