UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,
In Unix, How many no. of files and subdirectories can be stored in a directory (Vertically and horizontally).

Is this homework? AFAIK, there is no limit on this.

There is a limit,i faced an issue in HP-UX so not sure if it holds good for other UNIX flavours.

The Maximum no. of directories or links is hardcorded in the file param.h header file and the key to search is MAXLINK
It would be like

Code:

#define MAXLINK 0x7fff      /* max # links to a file */ ------- which is 32767

hi
the same question was posted in UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users with a correct answer:
Challanging question?
@lorcan:
this does not impose a limit to the number entries in a directory
mfg guetenr

I just wanted to tell about the number of links/directories in a directory.
If you cross a certain limit of dir in a folder you would be getting a error like "Too Many Links" in HP-UX

MAXLINK does not affect the number of files that can be stored in a directory. I have seen directories with much more than MAXLINK files in a directory on HP-UX. In every subdirectory, the file called .. must be a link to the parent directory. And so MAXLINK would limit the number of direct subdirectories in a directory, but it does not affect ordinary files. I would like to point out again that common sense should limit the number of files in a directory. Very large directories will slow down performance.

Perderabo, thats exactly what i was trying to say.

I was stressing that there is limit of the direct sub-directories in a directory which is equivalent to MAXLINK.

I haven't metioned any limit on the files in a directory