file_desc

    A file descriptor.

 buffer

    A pointer to a structure of type stat_t, which is defined in the
    <stat.h> header file. The argument receives information about
    that particular file. The members of the structure pointed to by
    buffer are:

    Member       Type        Definition

    st_dev       dev_t       Pointer to a physical device name
    st_ino[3]    ino_t       Three words to receive the file ID
    st_mode      mode_t      File "mode" (prot, dir, . . . )
    st_nlink     nlink_t     For UNIX system compatibility only
    st_uid       uid_t       Owner user ID
    st_gid       gid_t       Group member: from st_uid
    st_rdev      dev_t       UNIX system compatibility - always 0
    st_size      off_t       File size, in bytes. For st_size to
                             report a correct value, you need to
                             flush both the C RTL and RMS buffers.
    st_atime     time_t      File access time; always the same as
                             st_mtime
    st_mtime     time_t      Last modification time
    st_ctime     time_t      File creation time
    st_fab_rfm   char        Record format
    st_fab_rat   char        Record attributes
    st_fab_fsz   char        Fixed header size
    st_fab_mrs   unsigned    Record size

    The types dev_t, ino_t, off_t, mode_t, nlink_t, uid_t, gid_t, and
    time_t, are defined in the <stat.h> header file. However, when
    compiling for compatibility (/DEFINE=_DECC_V4_SOURCE), only dev_
    t, ino_t, and off_t are defined.

    The off_t data type is either a 32-bit or 64-bit integer. The 64-
    bit interface allows for file sizes greater than 2 GB, and can be
    selected at compile time by defining the _LARGEFILE feature-test
    macro as follows:

    CC/DEFINE=_LARGEFILE

    As of OpenVMS Version 7.0, times are given in seconds since the
    Epoch (00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970).

    The st_mode structure member is the status information mode and
    is defined in the <stat.h> header file. The st_mode bits follow:

    Bits     Constant  Definition

    0170000  S_IFMT    Type of file
    0040000  S_IFDIR   Directory
    0020000  S_IFCHR   Character special
    0060000  S_IFBLK   Block special
    0100000  S_IFREG   Regular
    0030000  S_IFMPC   Multiplexed char special
    0070000  S_IFMPB   Multiplexed block special
    0004000  S_ISUID   Set user ID on execution
    0002000  S_ISGID   Set group ID on execution
    0001000  S_ISVTX   Save swapped text even after use
    0000400  S_IREAD   Read permission, owner
    0000200  S_IWRITE  Write permission, owner
    0000100  S_IEXEC   Execute/search permission, owner