Python os.lstat() Method
-
Syntax of Python
os.lstat()
Method -
Example Codes: Working With the
os.lstat()
Method -
Example Codes: Retrieve Some Elements of the
os.lstat()
Method

Python os.lstat()
method is an efficient way of finding information about a file. It is an alias to the os.stat()
method that doesn’t support symbolic paths.
Syntax of Python os.lstat()
Method
os.lstat(path address)
Parameters
path address |
It is an address object of a file system path or a symlink . The object can either be an str or bytes. |
Return
The return type of this method is all the information about the specified file. The following details are returned.
Return Type | Description |
---|---|
st_dev |
Device ID where the file resides. |
st_ino |
inode number of the file system. |
st_mode |
Permission access to the file. |
st_nlink |
Number of hard links for the file. |
st_uid |
User ID of the file’s owner. |
st_gid |
Group ID of the file’s owner |
st_rdev |
Device ID of a special file. |
st_size |
Total file size in bytes. |
st_blksize |
Total block size for the file system. |
st_blocks |
Number of blocks allocated to the file. |
st_atime |
Last time, the file was accessed. |
st_mtime |
Last time, the file was modified. |
st_ctime |
Last time, the file status was changed. |
Example Codes: Working With the os.lstat()
Method
import os
import sys
path = "/home/File.txt"
fd = os.open(path, os.O_RDWR | os.O_CREAT)
os.close(fd)
file_info = os.lstat(path)
print("The file info is:", file_info)
Output:
The file info is: os.stat_result(st_mode=33279, st_ino=303997, st_dev=2049, st_nlink=1, st_uid=0, st_gid=0, st_size=33, st_atime=1660394495, st_mtime=1660394495, st_ctime=1660394495)
The method os.lstat()
can support any path relative to a given file descriptor.
Example Codes: Retrieve Some Elements of the os.lstat()
Method
import os
import sys
path = "/home/File.txt"
fd = os.open(path, os.O_RDWR | os.O_CREAT)
os.close(fd)
file_info = os.lstat(path)
print("The device ID is:", file_info[2])
print("The user ID is:", file_info[4])
Output:
The device ID is: 2049
The user ID is: 0
The information returned by the os.lstat()
method is in the form of an array, starting from the index number 0
. Some elements of this method can be retrieved by specifying the index number.
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