The inode (index node) is a fundamental concept in the Linux and UNIX filesystem. Each object in the filesystem is represented by an inode. But what are the objects? Let us try to understand it in simple words. Each and every file under Linux (and UNIX) has following attributes:
=> File type (executable, block special etc)
=> Permissions (read, write etc)
=> Owner
=> Group
=> File Size
=> File access, change and modification time (remember UNIX or Linux never stores file creation time, this is favorite question asked in UNIX/Linux sys admin job interview)
=> File deletion time
=> Number of links (soft/hard)
=> Extended attribute such as append only or no one can delete file including root user (immutability)
=> Access Control List (ACLs)
All the above information stored in an inode. In short the inode identifies the file and its attributes (as above) . Each inode is identified by a unique inode number within the file system. Inode is also know as index number.
inode definition
An inode is a data structure on a traditional Unix-style file system such as UFS or ext3. An inode stores basic information about a regular file, directory, or other file system object.
How do I see file inode number?
You can use ls -i command to see inode number of file
$ ls -i /etc/passwd
Sample Output
32820 /etc/passwd
You can also use stat command to find out inode number and its attribute:
$ stat /etc/passwdOutput:
File: `/etc/passwd' Size: 1988 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file Device: 341h/833d Inode: 32820 Links: 1 Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root) Access: 2005-11-10 01:26:01.000000000 +0530 Modify: 2005-10-27 13:26:56.000000000 +0530 Change: 2005-10-27 13:26:56.000000000 +0530
Inode application
Many commands used by system administrators in UNIX / Linux operating systems often give inode numbers to designate a file. Let us see he practical application of inode number. Type the following commands:
$ cd /tmp
$ touch \"la*
$ ls -l
Now try to remove file “la*
You can’t, to remove files having created with control characters or characters which are unable to be input on a keyboard or special character such as ?, * ^ etc. You have to use inode number to remove file. This is fourth part of “Understanding UNIX/Linux file system, continue reading rest of the Understanding Linux file system series (this is part IV):
- Part I – Understanding Linux superblock
- Part II – Understanding Linux superblock
- Part III – An example of Surviving a Linux Filesystem Failures
- Part IV – Understanding filesystem Inodes
- Part V – Understanding filesystem directories
- Part VI – Understanding UNIX/Linux symbolic (soft) and hard links
- Part VII – Why isn’t it possible to create hard links across file system boundaries?
56 comment
OT but was wondering are you from India?
The timestamp is a give away
Yup I’m from India 🙂
hm, did I something wrong? I can remove the file with $ rm “la*
Future is , no one will load
executable code , only data and
data will be parsed by kernel and
typed , compresed , and added to
a structure .
This allows the OpSys to be tiny .
because it eliminates the extra
work the kernel had to do ,
explaining to humans ….
This obsoletes SU and makes it
much easier to “control” a machine .
Permissions are no longer necessary .
Scratch lists stop all unauthorized
acesses .
This not new , these simple fixes
have been around for 100’s of years ,
Only computer s/w can change in
minutes , and “pink slip” millions .
Great blog…. Has a lot of correct info and I find it very useful….
just to let you know…. that file once created can be removed in another way. using rm -i *. this is an interactive mode and asks you if want to delete each file in turn. so please correct as the above information you are providing is inaccurate.
Riz,
I’m aware of this command. A long time ago on NFS mounted system there was a file called 2001/05/11. and no UNIX / Linux command was able delete this file by name. Only method to delete such file is delete file by an inode number. Linux or UNIX never allows creating filename like 2001/05/11 but if you are using NFS from MAC OS or Windows then it is possible to create a such file.
So above information is 100% accurate.
vivek,
i dont have a windows box to test this so i will take you word as gold, but it is nice to see an active posting community rather than one which is dead (which i normally find whilst search things like this)
Riz.
What strange but true I cannot create a dir or file with this commands:
touch “10/11/2006”
mkdir “10/11/2006”
You can see what I’m using quotes to bypass the shell. But anyway I cannot create such file/dir.
That is for some reason?
I have other doubt (I don’t expect to be answered here): Why linux filesystem does not save “file creation time”? What is the reason?
Bye
It’s inaccurate to say that every file under Linux has the attributes that you listed … especially the extended attributes. All these attributes are properties of the filesystem, be it ext3, xfs, jfs etc. In particular, extended attributes apply to ext2/ext3
hi friends,,
plz i want some coomands in linux
1)question: in linux basic commands are not working that u can do.
example : ls
pc displays command not found.
2)question : i have 3 files. i want serach some words like kernel.all files are have kernel word so prints word as well as numbers with single line. using single command grep (or) sde command plz send syntax and example.
try this:
$ sudo su –
# ls
rm ‘”la*’
deleted it fine for me
this is to aneyous according to my knowledge if u want to create a file say 10/11/2008 try this 10112008 and for a directory also
guys i have one question i couldnt find an answer to ..i will explain in steps what did i do
from root user i did this:
1. adduser tarun
2. passwd tarun
3. log in to a terminal with user tarun
4. create a text file say “test1” with “cat” and
type some text in it,and save the file.
5. now i did chmod 000 on the file.
6. i opened “test1” with vim editor. i try
inserting some text in it i get a warning tht
i might be changing a read only file,
7. i save and exit the text inside “test1”
forcefully using “wq!”
8. now i do chmod 644 on “test1″and again open the file and write something in it and save it
9. if do “cat test1” i see only the last text i inserted after doing chmod 644 and not anything before …could’nt figure it out why the system did not append the text i had just written to the text i had written earlier
chantu,
when you inserting the text into test1 file while the file has 000 access permissions it gives you warning but when you after chmod644 the file has only read and write permissions not execute to owner so you write in test1 and can’t execute so system bydefault takes the last text. so try by chmod744 then insert text.
When tried first time , permission was 000, obviously no access to write,read or execute to any one, not even root,
and one thing you have to notice in VIM editor commands
You have entered “:wq!” – it mens what ever the error (in your case the error is, you are trying to append data to a read only file) ignore and close the file forcefully.
if you tried it with “:wq” then it will shows the error i.e read only file.
but second time that is with permission 644, Vinoth is correct
Vinoth’s reply
“chmod644 the file has only read and write permissions not execute to owner so you write in test1 and can’t execute so system bydefault takes the last text. so try by chmod744 then insert text”
tarun,
i did what u did but am getting all the lines, and not just the last one…
There are no inodes for creating files, how can i overcome this situation
Tarun,
The command “chmod 000” change the file rights. The code “000” is in Octal.
The first byte is for file owner rights.
The second byte is for group rights.
The third byte is for rights according to other users.
The numbers, in octal, works as following:
0 = (—) = No right
1 = (–x) = Execute
2 = (-w-) = Write
4 = (r–) = Read
You can combine them:
3 = 1+2 = (-wx) = Write + Execute
5 = 1+4 = (r-x) = Read + Execute
6 = 2+4 = (rw-) = Read + Write
7 = 1+2+4 = (rwx) = Read + Write + Execute
Example, “chmod 740 somefile” will give full access to the owner of “somefile” (rwx), read only for other member of the file group (r–) and protect the file from been access by other users (—). The command “ls -l somefile” display this:
-rwxr—– 1 me filegroup 0 Feb 19 10:32 somefile
So, the command “chmod 000” remove all rights to anyone on the file, including the owner. That’s why you can not wirte new data on it and you have to force quit from vi (q! is a forced quit).
The command “chmod 644” give the number 6 for the owner (rw-) which give you back the read and write access.
hi,
innode ******** has illegal blocks. clear ?
what issue is this one. is this a major issue . kindly reply . i need help badly. mean while i am googling to find a solution
Hi Friends I am new to this linux world…. I am struck with one thing…. I want to know how we can change our root password if i forget this….
welcome to the world of Linux
its quite easy to change password of root..start ur OS in single user mode….for tht u simply edit kernal parameter
to edit kernal simply go to kernal parameter press (e) to edit,nw simply rite 1 thr & thn press (b) to boot system to boot the system..
thr u will get a shell kind of( sh.3#) there simply type (passwd) shell will ask u for new Unix password..type the new password,thn retype it.ur password will b changed
how can i recover data from inode numbers
Hi,
I am vikram i am new to linux world. My frnds r playing vth linux. I am soo many doubts in this
1). If you having a string”one two three”,Which shell commamd would you use to extract the strings?
2).What is diff bw a shell varible that is exported and the one that is not exported?
3).How wil u list only the empty lines in a file(using grep)?
4).How do u open a read only file in unix?
5).How do u schedule a command to run at 4:00every morning?
6).What are diff kinds of loops available in shell script?
7).What is the use of “cut”command?give some example . Can we use “awk”or “sed”?
8).What is the line in shell script do #!/bin/ksh
9).What is diff bw writing code in shell and editor?
10).What is diff “thread” and “process”?
1).How can we know how many had logged in and logged out in last 10 min?
2).How to delete a word from a file using shell?
3).How to extract the second row of a text-file?
4).How to compare 2 floating point num?
hi, i am karan,
what is diff between soft link and hard link
Super blog, I just love it . I am so excited to study more about linux.Thank you
I need to view inodes details in graphical window. Is there any command.
what is link of file system (ext2,ext3) and inode number.
i did a file with touch
ex: touch 111
then
ls -la
i see the list of file with the date and hours.
why does it say in this article that linux inodo does nt say file creation time??
The number of soft links, or any information about soft links, is definitely not stored in the inode. Otherwise, great write-up.
how to remove user with data directory also in one cmd
How to create a directory root user also cnt delete it
Hi to all,
I want some details about EXT4 Inode 128 and 256.
Actually i am using windows XP 32 bit os. And i have created ext4 256 inode to my 250GB external usb drive. after creating this ext4 256inode i pluged into windows XP machine the drive is not detecting to my system. i am using IFS 1.11a version. if any patch file please send me. any other information please share with me.
Really nice website 🙂
Thanks for the information.
Thanks for the info…… its very helpful
so how delete file by inode number?
i wonder why u u mention UNIX or Linux never create file creation time actually it displays modifying time so please check again (text created in opensuse)
i mean create or store time (file created)
very useful….thanks 2 all….
Hi, i saw your post and i really like it, but, about inode or how to remove a file that has a direfent name or diferent by default of the system like ( “la* ) i can say that i can remove it using this tips ( ‘ ‘) like it :
touch “la*
when i type ls -il
it list “la* right?
but, whe i type rm -i “la* the linux prompt me like this:
>
and i need put crtl+c to get out…
but when i type rm -i ‘ “la* ‘ it work
thanks for read….greetings
correction to the line in the article
=> Number of links (soft/hard)
it is only hard links and not soft links
you can remove that file without Inode by using this command:
rm “la*
😉
Hi,
userdel -r [username] will delete the user and its home directory as well.
Hi,
What is diff “thread†and “process�
A: Thread used to handle a request in partly manner i.e each thread handle some portion of a request.
But Process handle a single complete request at once.
What is diff bw writing code in shell and editor?
A: In linux script code is a set of commands which are placed in single .sh file and can be executed once to automate a task.
if we use these commands on shell, we cannot get the o/p of the task at once and need to enter the commands one by one in shell.
Also, if we write linux code in a editor & save, it will become a script, else for every command manual intervention is required to get the o/p.
Hi,
What is the line in shell script do #!/bin/ksh
A: It will execute script on the same shell (korn shell) and no export env. variable is required.
Hi,
What is the use of “cutâ€command?give some example . Can we use “awkâ€or “sedâ€?
A: We can use sed & awk as well.
eg: sed -e ‘s/a/b/g’ & awk ‘{print $1}’
Hi,
4).How do u open a read only file in unix?
5).How do u schedule a command to run at 4:00every morning?
A: to open a read only file use ‘cat filename’ or ‘Vi filename’ or ‘nano filename’.
A: to schedule use : 00 04 * * * sh [location of your script] 2&>/dev/null
$ cd /tmp
$ touch “la*
$ ls -l
Can be deleted:
$ rm ‘”la*’
>>â€Now try to remove file “la*
>>>You can’t—â€
What???!!!!
Everything in the filesystem that has a filename can be removed. only then if the file lost it’s inode, or the filename got lost, then it’s a problem… it it can still be taken care of by fsck and they’ll end up in lost+found folder…
SO, how do you remove the “la* file? easy…
# rm â€la*â€
Done!… please correct this article, you are sending the wrong message to the community.
Don’t know about UNIX, but Linux do store file creation time.
Reference from 2006. Re: creation time stamps for ext4
Example: debugfs -R “stat /etc/hosts/” /dev/sdb1
Notice aditional crtime field.
Please consider updating the article.
Thank you in advance.
mv filename newfilename
Actually you can delete “a* using mc -> F8.
That is if you have mc installed.
can be deleted like this –
[[email protected] tmp]# touch “la*
[[email protected] tmp]# rm *la*
rm: remove regular empty file `”la*’? y