The '''inode number''' is like a '''finger-print''', and usually is '''unique''' for each file on the Unix / Linux file system.<br>Referring to the diagram on the far right, issuing the '''ls''' command with the '''-i''' option<br>displays the inode number for each file. You can view see that <u>each inode in that </u> file (whether it is a directory listing is or regular file) has its own uniqueinode number.