clri

PURPOSE

     Clears the specified i-node.

SYNOPSIS
     clri [ flag ] filelsystem inumber

DESCRIPTION

     Warning:  Use  this command only in  emergencies and with
     extreme care.

     The  clri command  is used  to clear  i-node entries  for
     files that do not appear in a directory.  In general, you
     do not  need to  use this program  because fsck  can deal
     with most file system inconsistencies.

     Always run fsck on a file system after you have used clri
     on it,  because it  may create dangling  directory refer-
     ences or missing blocks.  These  can be fixed if they are
     attended to  promptly.  Do  not run  the system  when the
     file system  has dangling  directory references or  a bad
     free list.

     The  clri  command zeroes  over  the  flags word  of  the
     i-node, thus  freeing it  for reallocation.   The inumber
     parameter specifies  the i-node and  filesystem specifies
     the file  system it is  on.  inumber should be  a decimal
     number, while  filesystem can be  either the name  of the
     device on  which the file  system resides or the  name by
     which it is normally mounted.

     If you use clri to remove an i-node that does appear in a
     directory, you should track down  and remove all of these
     entries.  Otherwise,  when the  i-node is  reallocated to
     some new  file, the  old entry will  still point  to that
     file.  At that point removing  the old entry destroys the
     new file and the new entry again points to an unallocated
     i-node.

     By default,  the clri  command displays  some information
     about  the  file  and  asks for  confirmation  before  it
     destroys the file.  If you enter a "y" or "yes", the file
     is destroyed.

     Since clri only  zeroes the flags word of  the i-node, if
     you destroy the  wrong file, you can recover  the file by
     using the fsdb command to restore the flags word.

     Note:  If the file is open, clri is likely to be ineffec-
     tive.  For  this reason, you  should run clri only  on an
     unmounted file system.

FLAGS

     -f    Destroys the file  without confirmation, but writes
           a description of the file.
     -q    Destroys the file without confirmation or writing a
           description of the file.

EXAMPLE

     To  clear i-nodes  "170"  and "368"  of  the file  system
     /diskette0 and then clean up the file system:

       clri  /diskette0  170  368
       fsck  /diskette0

RELATED INFORMATION

     The following commands:  "fsck, dfsck" and "fsdb."

     The fs file in AIX Operating System Technical Reference.