Description
array 
stat ( string filename )
     Gathers the statistics of the file named by
     filename.  If filename
     is a symbolic link, statistics are from the file itself, not the
     symlink.  lstat() is identical to 
     stat() except it would instead be based off the symlinks 
     status.
    
     In case of error, stat() returns FALSE.  It also
     will throw a warning.
    
     Returns an array with the statistics of the file with the
     following elements.  This array is zero-based.  In addition to
     returning these attributes in a numeric array, they can be accessed
     with associative indices, as noted next to each parameter; this is
     available since PHP 4.0.6:
    
     
Table 1. stat() and fstat() result
       format
| Numeric | Associative (since PHP 4.0.6) | Description | 
|---|
| 0 | dev | device number | 
| 1 | ino | inode number | 
| 2 | mode | inode protection mode | 
| 3 | nlink | number of links | 
| 4 | uid | userid of owner | 
| 5 | gid | groupid of owner | 
| 6 | rdev | device type, if inode device * | 
| 7 | size | size in bytes | 
| 8 | atime | time of last access (Unix timestamp) | 
| 9 | mtime | time of last modification (Unix timestamp) | 
| 10 | ctime | time of last inode change (Unix timestamp) | 
| 11 | blksize | blocksize of filesystem IO * | 
| 12 | blocks | number of blocks allocated | 
     * Only valid on systems supporting the st_blksize type - other
     systems (e.g. Windows) return -1.
    
Note: The results of this 
function are cached. See clearstatcache() for 
more details.
Tip: As of PHP 5.0.0 this function
can also be used with some URL wrappers.  Refer to 
Appendix M for a listing of which wrappers support 
stat() family of functionality.
     See also lstat(),
     fstat(),
     filemtime(), and
     filegroup().