In this tutorial, we will learn how we can use the stat() method in PHP to gather information about a specific file within the current filesystem.
As developers and system administrators, we rely on information about our programs and operating systems to find and fix errors in various applications.
It is therefore to have a few troubleshooting skills under your belt to ensure that you can gather and determine the problems in a system without rely on external tools.
PHP stat() Function
As stated, this function allows us to gather information about a file. The function syntax is as shown below:
stat(string $filename): array|false
The function accepts one parameter:
filename- this specifies the path to the target file.
The function will then return an array with various elements denoting the file information. The returned information is as demonstrated below:
| Key | Numeric Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dev | 0 | Device number in which the file resides |
| ino | 1 | Inode number of the file |
| mode | 2 | File type and permissions |
| nlink | 3 | Number of hard links to the file |
| uid | 4 | User ID of the file owner |
| gid | 5 | Group ID of the file owner |
| rdev | 6 | Device type, if the file is a special file |
| size | 7 | Size of the file in bytes |
| atime | 8 | Time of last access |
| mtime | 9 | Time of last modification |
| ctime | 10 | Time of last status change |
| blksize | 11 | Block size used by the file system |
| blocks | 12 | Number of 512-byte blocks allocated to the file |
Example Function Usage
The following code snippet shows the usage of the stat() function and the resulting output:
<?php
$file_path = '/home/d3b1an/.bashrc';
// Use the stat() function to get file information
$file_info = stat($file_path);
// Display the file size
echo "File size: " . $file_info['size'] . " bytes\n";
// Display the owner user ID and group ID
echo "Owner user ID: " . $file_info['uid'] . "\n";
echo "Owner group ID: " . $file_info['gid'] . "\n";
// Display the file permissions
echo "File permissions: " . decoct($file_info['mode'] & 0777) . "\n";
// Display the last access, modification, and status change times
echo "Last access time: " . date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $file_info['atime']) . "\n";
echo "Last modification time: " . date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $file_info['mtime']) . "\n";
echo "Last status change time: " . date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $file_info['ctime']) . "\n";
?>
The code above uses the stat() function to gather the file details about the .bashrc file.
We can run the code above:
$ php file_info.php
Resulting output:
File size: 3526 bytes
Owner user ID: 1000
Owner group ID: 1000
File permissions: 644
Last access time: 2023-04-23 23:56:28
Last modification time: 2023-04-23 23:56:24
Last status change time: 2023-04-23 23:56:24
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you discovered how you can monitor and gather information about a specific file within the filesystem using the stat() function in PHP.
