6.4 stat -- Interpreting stat() results
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6.4 stat --
Interpreting stat() results
The stat module defines constants and functions for
interpreting the results of os.stat(),
os.fstat() and os.lstat() (if they exist). For
complete details about the stat(), fstat() and
lstat() calls, consult the documentation for your system.
The stat module defines the following functions to test for
specific file types:
S_ISDIR (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a directory.
S_ISCHR (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a character special device file.
S_ISBLK (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a block special device file.
S_ISREG (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a regular file.
S_ISFIFO (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a FIFO (named pipe).
S_ISLNK (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a symbolic link.
S_ISSOCK (mode)
Return non-zero if the mode is from a socket.
Two additional functions are defined for more general manipulation of
the file's mode:
S_IMODE (mode)
Return the portion of the file's mode that can be set by
os.chmod()--that is, the file's permission bits, plus the
sticky bit, set-group-id, and set-user-id bits (on systems that support
them).
S_IFMT (mode)
Return the portion of the file's mode that describes the file type (used
by the S_IS*() functions above).
Normally, you would use the os.path.is*() functions for
testing the type of a file; the functions here are useful when you are
doing multiple tests of the same file and wish to avoid the overhead of
the stat() system call for each test. These are also
useful when checking for information about a file that isn't handled
by os.path, like the tests for block and character
devices.
All the variables below are simply symbolic indexes into the 10-tuple
returned by os.stat(), os.fstat() or
os.lstat().
ST_MODE
Inode protection mode.
ST_INO
Inode number.
ST_DEV
Device inode resides on.
ST_NLINK
Number of links to the inode.
ST_UID
User id of the owner.
ST_GID
Group id of the owner.
ST_SIZE
File size in bytes.
ST_ATIME
Time of last access.
ST_MTIME
Time of last modification.
ST_CTIME
Time of last status change (see manual pages for details).
Example:
import os, sys
from stat import *
def walktree(dir, callback):
'''recursively descend the directory rooted at dir,
calling the callback function for each regular file'''
for f in os.listdir(dir):
pathname = '%s/%s' % (dir, f)
mode = os.stat(pathname)[ST_MODE]
if S_ISDIR(mode):
# It's a directory, recurse into it
walktree(pathname, callback)
elif S_ISREG(mode):
# It's a file, call the callback function
callback(pathname)
else:
# Unknown file type, print a message
print 'Skipping %s' % pathname
def visitfile(file):
print 'visiting', file
if __name__ == '__main__':
walktree(sys.argv[1], visitfile)
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