When you issue an `ls -l' shell command on a file, it gives you information about the size of the file, who owns it, when it was last modified, and the like. This kind of information is called the file attributes; it is associated with the file itself and not a particular one of its names.
This section contains information about how you can inquire about and modify these attributes of files.
| Attribute Meanings | The names of the file attributes, and what their values mean. |
| Reading Attributes | How to read the attributes of a file. |
| Testing File Type | Distinguishing ordinary files, directories, links... |
| File Owner | How ownership for new files is determined, and how to change it. |
| Permission Bits | How information about a file's access mode is stored. |
| Access Permission | How the system decides who can access a file. |
| Setting Permissions | How permissions for new files are assigned, and how to change them. |
| Testing File Access | How to find out if your process can access a file. |
| File Times | About the time attributes of a file. |