Glossary of Unix programming

hard link
A directory entry which maps a filename to an inode number. A file may have multiple names or hard links. The link count gives the number of names by which a file is accessible. Hard links do not allow multiple names for directories and do not allow multiple names in different filesystems.

home directory
Your home directory is the directory that you start out in after you log in.

infinite loop
A loop that executes forever without terminating.

inode
A table entry within a filesystem that contains file information such as the owner, group, permissions, last modification date/time, last access date/time, and the block list of the actual file data. There is one inode for each file. The inodes are numbered sequentially. The inode does not contain the filename. A directory is a table that maps filenames to inode numbers.

input redirection
In UNIX, the process of sending input to a command from a file.