Pathfilestatstsize

Pathfilestatstsize is a conceptual term used in programming documentation to describe the process of determining a file’s size from its path by combining path handling, a stat-like query, and the size attribute. The term highlights three steps: resolve or normalize the path, obtain file metadata via a stat-like call, and extract the size field (st_size) usually reported in bytes.

In practice, implementations vary by language, but the underlying pattern remains consistent. In Python, using the pathlib API, one would typically access size via Path('example.txt').stat().st_size. In Node.js, a similar operation uses fs.statSync('example.txt').size to obtain the file size. In stat-based libraries for languages like Go or Rust, a sequence of os.Stat or metadata retrieval followed by a Size() or len() call yields the file’s size.

Common considerations and limitations include whether the path points to a regular file or a directory, how symbolic links are treated (stat vs. lstat semantics), and platform-specific definitions of st_size. For sparse files or special files, st_size may reflect logical content size rather than allocated disk usage. Some environments may require handling permissions, non-existent files, or I/O errors.

See also: Path, file statistics, st_size, stat, FileInfo, os.Stat (or equivalent), fs.stat (or equivalent), pathlib.Path.stat. Pathfilestatstsize serves as a helpful mnemonic for describing the standard pattern rather than a single official API.