Inode pointer structure
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For the Unix File System and related file systems, the 13-pointer array mechanism refers to a structure adopted by the inode of a file to list the addresses of the file's blocks. The thirteen pointers consist of:
- Ten pointers that directly point to blocks of the file's data (direct pointer)
- One pointer that points to a block of pointers, each of which point to blocks of the file's data (singly indirect pointers)
- One pointer that points to a block of pointers that point to other blocks of pointers, each of which point to blocks of the file's data (doubly indirect pointers)
- One pointer that points to a block of pointers that point to other blocks of pointers that point to other block of pointers, each of which point to blocks of the file's data (triply indirect pointers)
The 13-pointer array mechanism is therefore able to describe very large files using fixed inode block sizes while not allocating gregarious amounts of unutilised space and files less than 10 blocks (in practice this would usually correspond to around 80 kB) using only a single inode block.