os.stat() on Windows

Question

What fields in os.stat() are filled with dummy values on Windows?

The python doc is not clear on this. In particular, what does st_ino yield on Windows?

Can somebody run an interactive python session on Windows and let me know? I don't own a Windows machine so I can't do it.

Answer 1

st_ino, st_dev, st_nlink, st_uid, and st_gid are dummy variables on Windows 7 SP1 through Python 2.7.11:

import os; os.stat('Desktop\test.txt')
nt.stat_result(st_mode=33206, st_ino=0L, st_dev=0L, st_nlink=0, st_uid=0, st_gid=0, st_size=293L, st_atime=1448376581L, st_mtime=1451782006L, st_ctime=1448376581L)

However, they appear to be filled with meaningful values in Windows 7 SP1 as of Python 3.5.1:

import os; os.stat('Desktop\test.txt')
os.stat_result(st_mode=33206, st_ino=17732923532870243, st_dev=2289627604, st_nlink=2, st_uid=0, st_gid=0, st_size=293, st_atime=1448376581, st_mtime=1451782006, st_ctime=1448376581)

The Python docs on this topic would lead a sane user to avoid ever using os.stat in Windows, since there's no guarantee that any field will always/ever be accurate. In practice, it looks like st_size, st_atime, st_mtime, and st_ctime are usually if not always accurate. The other fields depend on at least the Python version, probably also the Windows version, and possibly other factors.

Answer 2

In Python 3.3.4

>>> os.stat('.')
nt.stat_result(st_mode=16895, st_ino=1407374883604316, st_dev=0, st_nlink=1, st_uid=0,
st_gid=0, st_size=4096, st_atime=1392476826, st_mtime=1392476826, st_ctime=1392374365)

Different from older versions st_ino is implemented.