inode

A data structure holding information about files in a Unixfile system. There is an inode for each file and a fileis uniquely identified by the file system on which itresides and its inode number on that system. Each inodecontains the following information: the device where the inoderesides, locking information, mode and type of file, thenumber of links to the file, the owner's user and group ids,the number of bytes in the file, access and modificationtimes, the time the inode itself was last modified and theaddresses of the file's blocks on disk. A Unix directory isan association between file leafnames and inode numbers. Afile's inode number can be found using the "-i" switch to ls.

Unix manual page: fs(5).

See also /usr/include/ufs/inode.h.

inode

(Index NODE or Identification NODE) One index entry in a Unix file system. It contains a unique number (the i-number), the file's attributes, including name, date, size and read/write permissions, and a pointer to the file's location. It is the counterpart to the FAT table in the DOS/Windows world. See handle and FAT.

Acronym

Definition

INODE➣Information Node