I'm using a Macbook Pro running El Capitan v 10.11.6. I am learning about symlinks, and in the `man ln` page, I found the following:

> A stat(2) on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an lstat(2) must be done to obtain information about the link.

As a test, I created a symlink to a file (in another filesystem, if it matters), as follows:

`ln -s /Volumes/foobardir/foobarfile foobarlink`

Then I ran `lstat foobarlink` to get information on the symlink file itself, but I got the following output:

`-bash: lstat: command not found`

The command `which lstat` returns nothing, which confirms that there is no executable with this name in my filepath.

I am able to execute `stat foobarlink`, but I am not sure if the returned stats are for the linked file or the symlink itself. I do see today's date in timestamp form among the output for that command, while running `stat foobarfile` shows a date from a few months ago. So I'm guessing this is the output I'm looking for, but I'd like a 2nd opinion.

By the way, running `which stat` returns `/usr/bin/stat`. A `grep` in the `/usr/bin` directory for all executables with `stat` in their name returns the following:

 - db_stat
 - diffstat
 - httpdstat.d
 - jstat
 - jstatd
 - lockstat
 - lpstat
 - nfsstat
 - plockstat
 - snmpnetstat
 - snmpstatus
 - stat
 - uustat
 - vm_stat

As I stated above, my guess is that `stat` returns the output that I had expected `lstat` to return. My questions are:

 - why is `lstat` apparently not installed in my system, when `man lstat` recognizes `lstat` as a valid command?
 - Why include manual information for an executable you don't ship with?
 - `brew search lstat` returns no results. Is it possible to install `lstat` to my local machine somehow, and are there even any advantages to doing so?