Linux Advanced

What is Inode?

A data structure in Unix filesystems that stores metadata about a file, excluding its name and data.

An inode contains information about a file including its size, ownership, permissions, timestamps, and pointers to the data blocks. Each file has a unique inode number within its filesystem.

The inode does not store the filename — that mapping is maintained in directory entries. This is why hard links work: multiple directory entries can point to the same inode.

Related Terms

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