inode
Sign in to saveAn inode (index node) is a data structure in a Unix-style file system that describes a file-system object such as a file or a directory. Each inode stores the attributes and disk block locations of the object's data. File-system object attributes may include metadata (times of last change, access, modification), as well as owner and permission data.
Article
16 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Details
- POSIX inode description
- Implications
- Multi-named files and hard links
- inode persistence and unlinked files
- inode number conversion and file directory path retrieval
- Historical possibility of directory hard linking
- inode number stability and non-Unix file systems
- Simplified library installation with inode file systems
- Potential for inode exhaustion and solutions
- Inlining
- In non-Unix systems
- See also
- References
- External links
An inode (index node) is a data structure in a Unix-style file system that describes a file-system object such as a file or a directory. Each inode stores the attributes and disk block locations of the object's data. File-system object attributes may include metadata (times of last change, access, modification), as well as owner and permission data.
A directory is a list of inodes with their assigned names. The list includes an entry for itself, its parent, and each of its children.