Python os.stat() Method

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The Python method stat() of OS module performs a stat system call on the given path. It is used to retrieve the status of a file or file descriptor.

On invoking the os.stat(), it returns a stat_result object. This object contains various attributes that represent the status of the specified path.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for os.stat() method −

os.stat(path, *, dir_fd, follow_symlinks)

Parameters

The Python os.stat() method accepts the following parameters −

• path − This is the path, whose stat information is required.

• dir_fd − It is an optional parameter that is a file descriptor referring to a directory.

• follow_symlinks − This parameter specifies a boolean that decides whether to follow symbolic links or not.

Return Value

The Python os.stat() methods returns a stat_result object that contains the below attributes −

• st_mode − protection bits.

• st_ino − inode number.

• st_dev − device.

• st_nlink − number of hard links.

• st_uid − user id of owner.

• st_gid − group id of owner.

• st_size − size of file, in bytes.

• st_atime − time of most recent access.

• st_mtime − time of most recent content modification.

• st_ctime − time of most recent metadata change.

Example

The following example shows the usage of stat() method. Here, we are displaying stat information of the given file.

import os, sys

# showing stat information of file
statinfo = os.stat("cwd.py")
print("Information related to the file:")
print (statinfo)

When we run above program, it produces following result −

Information related to the file:
os.stat_result(st_mode=33204, st_ino=1055023, st_dev=2051, 
st_nlink=1, st_uid=1000, st_gid=1000, st_size=206, st_atime=1713161783, 
st_mtime=1713161778, st_ctime=1713161778)

Example

In this example, we are accessing various information related to a given file using the attributes of stat_result object.

import os

# Retrieve the info of the file
statinfo = os.stat("cwd.py")

# displaying the info
print(f"File Size: {statinfo.st_size} bytes")
print(f"Last Modified: {statinfo.st_mtime}")
print(f"Last Accessed: {statinfo.st_atime}")

When we run above program, it produces following result −

File Size: 206 bytes
Last Modified: 1713161778.4851234
Last Accessed: 1713161783.2907193