os.stat(file).st_nlink gives 1 but same file's st_nlink from os.scandir(dir) gives 0.


"""
Inconsistent behavior: Get st_nlink from os.stat() and os.scandir()
Platform: Python 3.5.1 (v3.5.1:37a07cee5969, Dec  6 2015, 01:38:48) [MSC v.1900 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
"""

import os
import os.path

print('os.stat:', os.stat(__file__).st_nlink)

for entry in os.scandir(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))):
    if entry.name == 'stat.py':
        print('os.scandir:', entry.stat().st_nlink)

"""
os.stat: 1
os.scandir: 0
"""

This is documented behavior. Per the docs for os.DirEntry's stat method (the objects yielded by os.scandir):

>On Windows, the st_ino, st_dev and st_nlink attributes of the stat_result are always set to zero. Call os.stat() to get these attributes.

It might be nice if those values could be cached on read (through a lazily initialized value on property access or the like), but this is not a bug, it's working as documented.

scandir () is designed for effiency, not for portability or correctness. The API has deliberate limitations which are well documented, as the one you spotted:
https://docs.python.org/dev/library/os.html#os.DirEntry.stat

Your PR would defeat the whole purpose of scandir.