Why does Linux' cksum command return the path

Question

When running cksum on a file, let's say /tmp/foo.bar, the linux command returns three values: the checksum, the number of bytes in the file, and the path of the file.

Question: Why is the path of the file returned?

Since it is already given to the command it's known. Even if it was a link, the link is not followed so no extra information is added by returning it. Is there any reason I don't see?

Answer 1

because cksum can work with multiple files. it returns a result for all of them separately

cksum *

will return checksum for all files available in the folder line by line