In Stat We Trust - PHP

An alternative way of obtaining file information is via the stat() function, which retrieves detailed status information on the named file. The return value from stat() is an array consisting of the following elements (take a look at the PHP manual page for the stat() function for more information on what each array element represents):

ARRAY WHAT IT
KEY MEANS
------------------------------
dev device number
ino inode number
mode inode protection mode
nlink number of links
uid file owner's user ID
gid file owner's group ID
rdev device type
size file size (in bytes)
atime file's last access timestamp
mtime file's last modify timestamp
ctime file's last change timestamp
blksize filesystem block size
blocks file's allocated blocks

Consider the following example, and its output, which illustrate how stat()
works:

<?php

// if form has not yet been submitted

// display input box

if (!$_POST['file'])

{

?>

<form action="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="post">

Enter file path <input type="text" name="file">

</form>

<?

}

// else process form input

else

{

echo "Filename: <b>" . $_POST['file'] . "</b><br>";

 // check if file exists

if (file_exists($_POST['file']))

{

// get file status

$stats = stat($_POST['file']);



// iterate over array and print information

foreach ($stats as $k=>$v)

{

if (!is_numeric($k))

{

echo "$k: <b>$v</b><br>";

}

}
 }

else

{
 echo "File does not exist! <br>";
 }

}

?>
</body>

</html>

Here's an example of the output:

Filename: /home/web/apps/library/index.php
dev: 2049
ino: 767302
mode: 33188
nlink: 1
uid: 512
gid: 100
rdev: 21884
size: 1503
atime: 1059626194
mtime: 1059118092
ctime: 1059118095
blksize: 4096
blocks: 8

Note that stat() will return -1 for those attributes which are unsupported by the underlying operating system.