Difference between lstat fstat and stat in C

Similarity: They both take filename as arguments.

Difference: Whenever the file name is a symbolic link, stat() returns the attributes or inode information about the target file associated with the link. Whereas, lstat() return the attributes of only the link.

Refer the manpage for stat() vs lstat().

I was also searching for stat vs lstat vs fstat and although there is already an answer to this question, I'd like to see it formatted like that:

lstat() is identical to stat(), except that if pathname is a symbolic link, then it returns information about the link itself, not the file that it refers to.

fstat() is identical to stat(), except that the file about which information is to be retrieved is specified by a file descriptor (instead of a file name).

http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/stat.2.html

googling the following: lstat v fstat v stat

the first link provided is a man page that describes these differences: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man2/stat.2.html

listed on the page is the following simple answer: stat() stats the file pointed to by path and fills in buf. lstat() is identical to stat(), except that if path is a symbolic link, then the link itself is stat-ed, not the file that it refers to. fstat() is identical to stat(), except that the file to be stat-ed is specified by the file descriptor fd.