istat Command

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Purpose

Examines i-nodes.

Syntax

istat {FileName | i-nodeNumber Device}

Description

The istat command displays the i-node information for a particular file. You can specify the file either by providing a file or directory name with the FileName parameter or by providing an i-node number with the i-nodeNumber parameter and a device name with the Device parameter. You can specify the Device parameter as either a device name or as a mounted file system name.

If you specify the FileName parameter, the istat command writes the following information about the file:

  • Device where the file resides
  • i-node number of the file, on that device
  • File type, such as normal, directory, and block device
  • File access permissions
  • Name and identification number of the owner and group

    Note: The owner and group names for remote files are taken from the local /etc/passwd file.

  • Number of links to the file
  • If the i-node is for a normal file, length of the file
  • If the i-node is for a device, major and minor device designations
  • Date of the last i-node update
  • Date of the last file modification
  • Date of the last reference to the file

If you specify the i-nodeNumber and Device parameters, the istat command also displays, in hexadecimal values, the block numbers recorded in the i-node.

Note: The Device parameter cannot refer to a remote device.

Security

Attention RBAC users and Trusted AIX users: This command can perform privileged operations. Only privileged users can run privileged operations. For more information about authorizations and privileges, see Privileged Command Database in Security. For a list of privileges and the authorizations associated with this command, see the lssecattr command or the getcmdattr subcommand.

Examples

  1. To display the information in the i-node corresponding to the /usr/bin/ksh file, enter: 
    istat /usr/bin/ksh
    This command displays the i-node information for the /usr/bin/ksh file. The information looks similar to the following: 
    Inode 10360 on device 10/6    File
Protection: r-xr-xr-x
Owner: 2(bin)     Group: 2(bin)
Link count: 2     Length 372298 bytes
   
Last updated:  Wed May 13 14:08:13 1992
Last modified: Wed May 13 13:57:00 1992
Last accessed: Sun Jan 31 15:49:23 1993
  2. To display i-node information by specifying a file i-node number, enter: 
    istat 10360 /dev/hd2
    This command displays the information contained in the i-node identified by the number 10360 on the /dev/hd2 device. In addition to the information shown in Example 1, this displays: 
    Block pointers (hexadecimal):
2a9a   2a9b   2a9c   2a9d   2a9e   2a9f   2aa0   2aa1
    These numbers are addresses of the disk blocks that make up the /usr/bin/ksh file.

Files

Item Description
/usr/bin/istat Contains the istat command.