inode

The inode (index node) is a data structure in a Unix-style file system that describes a file-system object such as a file or a directory. Each inode stores the attributes and disk block locations of the object's data. File-system object attributes may include metadata (times of last change, access, modification), as well as owner and permission data.

A directory is a list of inodes with their assigned names. The list includes an entry for itself, its parent, and each of its children.