Index: doc/file.n
==================================================================
--- doc/file.n
+++ doc/file.n
@@ -249,18 +249,18 @@
 error message will be returned.  Most Unix platforms support both
 symbolic and hard links (the latter for files only). Windows
 supports symbolic directory links and hard file links on NTFS drives.
 .RE
 .TP
-\fBfile lstat \fIname varName\fR
+\fBfile lstat \fIname ?varName?\fR
 .
 Same as \fBstat\fR option (see below) except uses the \fIlstat\fR
 kernel call instead of \fIstat\fR.  This means that if \fIname\fR
-refers to a symbolic link the information returned in \fIvarName\fR
-is for the link rather than the file it refers to.  On systems that
-do not support symbolic links this option behaves exactly the same
-as the \fBstat\fR option.
+refers to a symbolic link the information returned is for the link
+rather than the file it refers to.  On systems that do not support
+symbolic links this option behaves exactly the same as the
+\fBstat\fR option.
 .TP
 \fBfile mkdir\fR ?\fIdir\fR ...?
 .
 Creates each directory specified.  For each pathname \fIdir\fR specified,
 this command will create all non-existing parent directories as
@@ -391,23 +391,24 @@
 to ensure that later commands
 that use the third component do not attempt to perform tilde
 substitution.
 .RE
 .TP
-\fBfile stat \fIname varName\fR
-.
-Invokes the \fBstat\fR kernel call on \fIname\fR, and uses the variable
-given by \fIvarName\fR to hold information returned from the kernel call.
-\fIVarName\fR is treated as an array variable, and the following elements
-of that variable are set: \fBatime\fR, \fBctime\fR, \fBdev\fR, \fBgid\fR,
-\fBino\fR, \fBmode\fR, \fBmtime\fR, \fBnlink\fR, \fBsize\fR, \fBtype\fR,
-\fBuid\fR.  Each element except \fBtype\fR is a decimal string with the
-value of the corresponding field from the \fBstat\fR return structure;
-see the manual entry for \fBstat\fR for details on the meanings of the
-values.  The \fBtype\fR element gives the type of the file in the same
-form returned by the command \fBfile type\fR.  This command returns an
-empty string.
+\fBfile stat \fIname ?varName?\fR
+.
+Invokes the \fBstat\fR kernel call on \fIname\fR, and returns a
+dictionary with the information returned from the kernel call. If
+\fIvarName\fR is given, it uses the variable to hold the information.
+\fIVarName\fR is treated as an array variable, and in such case the
+command returns the empty string. The following elements are set:
+\fBatime\fR, \fBctime\fR, \fBdev\fR, \fBgid\fR, \fBino\fR, \fBmode\fR,
+\fBmtime\fR, \fBnlink\fR, \fBsize\fR, \fBtype\fR, \fBuid\fR.  Each element
+except \fBtype\fR is a decimal string with the value of the corresponding
+field from the \fBstat\fR return structure; see the manual entry for
+\fBstat\fR for details on the meanings of the values.  The \fBtype\fR
+element gives the type of the file in the same form returned by the
+command \fBfile type\fR.
 .TP
 \fBfile system \fIname\fR
 .
 Returns a list of one or two elements, the first of which is the name of
 the filesystem to use for the file, and the second, if given, an

Index: generic/tclCmdAH.c
==================================================================
--- generic/tclCmdAH.c
+++ generic/tclCmdAH.c
@@ -1407,18 +1407,22 @@
     int objc,
     Tcl_Obj *const objv[])
 {
     Tcl_StatBuf buf;
 
-    if (objc != 3) {
-	Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "name varName");
+    if (objc < 2 || objc > 3) {
+	Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "name ?varName?");
 	return TCL_ERROR;
     }
     if (GetStatBuf(interp, objv[1], Tcl_FSLstat, &buf) != TCL_OK) {
 	return TCL_ERROR;
     }
-    return StoreStatData(interp, objv[2], &buf);
+    if (objc == 2) {
+	return StoreStatData(interp, NULL, &buf);
+    } else {
+	return StoreStatData(interp, objv[2], &buf);
+    }
 }
 
 /*
  *----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *
@@ -1443,18 +1447,22 @@
     int objc,
     Tcl_Obj *const objv[])
 {
     Tcl_StatBuf buf;
 
-    if (objc != 3) {
-	Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "name varName");
+    if (objc < 2 || objc > 3) {
+	Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "name ?varName?");
 	return TCL_ERROR;
     }
     if (GetStatBuf(interp, objv[1], Tcl_FSStat, &buf) != TCL_OK) {
 	return TCL_ERROR;
     }
-    return StoreStatData(interp, objv[2], &buf);
+    if (objc == 2) {
+	return StoreStatData(interp, NULL, &buf);
+    } else {
+	return StoreStatData(interp, objv[2], &buf);
+    }
 }
 
 /*
  *----------------------------------------------------------------------
  *
@@ -2350,11 +2358,11 @@
  *
  * StoreStatData --
  *
  *	This is a utility procedure that breaks out the fields of a "stat"
  *	structure and stores them in textual form into the elements of an
- *	associative array.
+ *	associative array (if given) or returns a dictionary.
  *
  * Results:
  *	Returns a standard Tcl return value. If an error occurs then a message
  *	is left in interp's result.
  *
@@ -2370,12 +2378,43 @@
     Tcl_Obj *varName,		/* Name of associative array variable in which
 				 * to store stat results. */
     Tcl_StatBuf *statPtr)	/* Pointer to buffer containing stat data to
 				 * store in varName. */
 {
-    Tcl_Obj *field, *value;
+    Tcl_Obj *field, *value, *result;
     unsigned short mode;
+
+    if (varName == NULL) {
+        result = Tcl_NewObj();
+        Tcl_IncrRefCount(result);
+#define DOBJPUT(key, objValue)                  \
+        Tcl_DictObjPut(NULL, result,            \
+            Tcl_NewStringObj((key), -1),        \
+            (objValue));
+        DOBJPUT("dev",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((long)statPtr->st_dev));
+        DOBJPUT("ino",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((Tcl_WideInt)statPtr->st_ino));
+        DOBJPUT("nlink",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((long)statPtr->st_nlink));
+        DOBJPUT("uid",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((long)statPtr->st_uid));
+        DOBJPUT("gid",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((long)statPtr->st_gid));
+        DOBJPUT("size",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((Tcl_WideInt)statPtr->st_size));
+#ifdef HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLOCKS
+        DOBJPUT("blocks",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj((Tcl_WideInt)statPtr->st_blocks));
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLKSIZE
+        DOBJPUT("blksize", Tcl_NewWideIntObj((long)statPtr->st_blksize));
+#endif
+        DOBJPUT("atime",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj(Tcl_GetAccessTimeFromStat(statPtr)));
+        DOBJPUT("mtime",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj(Tcl_GetModificationTimeFromStat(statPtr)));
+        DOBJPUT("ctime",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj(Tcl_GetChangeTimeFromStat(statPtr)));
+        mode = (unsigned short) statPtr->st_mode;
+        DOBJPUT("mode",	Tcl_NewWideIntObj(mode));
+        DOBJPUT("type",	Tcl_NewStringObj(GetTypeFromMode(mode), -1));
+#undef DOBJPUT
+        Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, result);
+        Tcl_DecrRefCount(result);
+        return TCL_OK;
+    }
 
     /*
      * Assume Tcl_ObjSetVar2() does not keep a copy of the field name!
      *
      * Might be a better idea to call Tcl_SetVar2Ex() instead, except we want

Index: tests/cmdAH.test
==================================================================
--- tests/cmdAH.test
+++ tests/cmdAH.test
@@ -1192,14 +1192,14 @@
 # lstat and readlink: don't run these tests everywhere, since not all sites
 # will have symbolic links
 catch {file link -symbolic $linkfile $gorpfile}
 test cmdAH-23.1 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: lstat} -returnCodes error -body {
     file lstat a
-} -result {wrong # args: should be "file lstat name varName"}
+} -result {could not read "a": no such file or directory}
 test cmdAH-23.2 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: lstat} -returnCodes error -body {
     file lstat a b c
-} -result {wrong # args: should be "file lstat name varName"}
+} -result {wrong # args: should be "file lstat name ?varName?"}
 test cmdAH-23.3 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: lstat} -setup {
     unset -nocomplain stat
 } -constraints {unix nonPortable} -body {
     file lstat $linkfile stat
     lsort [array names stat]
@@ -1525,18 +1525,18 @@
 set gorpfile [makeFile "Test string" gorp.file]
 catch {file attributes $gorpfile -permissions 0o765}
 
 # stat
 test cmdAH-28.1 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: stat} -returnCodes error -body {
-    file stat _bogus_
-} -result {wrong # args: should be "file stat name varName"}
+    file stat
+} -result {wrong # args: should be "file stat name ?varName?"}
 test cmdAH-28.2 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: stat} -returnCodes error -body {
     file stat _bogus_ a b
-} -result {wrong # args: should be "file stat name varName"}
+} -result {wrong # args: should be "file stat name ?varName?"}
 test cmdAH-28.3 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: stat} -setup {
     unset -nocomplain stat
-    set stat(blocks) [set stat(blksize) {}]
+    array set stat {blocks {} blksize {}}
 } -body {
     file stat $gorpfile stat
     unset stat(blocks) stat(blksize); # Ignore these fields; not always set
     lsort [array names stat]
 } -result {atime ctime dev gid ino mode mtime nlink size type uid}
@@ -1625,10 +1625,20 @@
     } trap {POSIX ENOENT} {} {
 	set res {0 0 -1 0 0 8630 0 0 0 characterSpecial 0}
     }
     set res
 } -result {0 0 -1 0 0 8630 0 0 0 characterSpecial 0}
+test cmdAH-28.14 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: stat} -setup {
+    unset -nocomplain stat
+} -body {
+    file stat $gorpfile stat
+    expr {
+		[lsort -stride 2 [array get stat]]
+		eq
+		[lsort -stride 2 [file stat $gorpfile]]
+	}
+} -result {1}
 unset -nocomplain stat
 
 # type
 test cmdAH-29.1 {Tcl_FileObjCmd: type} -returnCodes error -body {
     file type a b