Which of the following commands helps investigators retrieve important information such as the MAC times of any file and timestamps of applications in a Mac system?

The command that assists investigators in retrieving important information such as the MAC (Modified, Accessed, and Changed) times of any file, as well as timestamps of applications in a Mac system, is the "stat" command. This command provides detailed information about files, including their creation, modification, and access times.

The "stat" command can be particularly powerful because it not only shows the timestamps but also allows for formatting options that can tailor the output to the user's needs. This capability makes "stat" highly useful for digital forensics, where precise file metadata is crucial for investigations.

On the other hand, other options like "ls -l" provide a summary of file information but with much less detail regarding timestamps. "cat /var/log/daily.out" merely displays the contents of a log file and does not directly relate to the MAC times of files. Similarly, "find . -name '*.txt'" focuses on locating files based on patterns but does not provide informational details about the timestamps of those files. Therefore, the "stat" command stands out as the best option for retrieving comprehensive file timestamp information.