(python) meaning of st_mode

Question

Can anyone tell me what is the meaning of the number from the ST_MODE function?

Example:

>>>import os
>>>stat = os.stat('/home')  
>>>print stat.st_mode  
16877  

it prints 16877. What is that for?

Answer 1

It's the permission bits of the file.

>>> oct(16877)
'040755'

See the various stat.S_* attributes for more info.