The reverse path name lookup feature obtains the full path name of a file or directory from the inode number of that file or directory. The reverse path name lookup feature can be useful for a variety of applications, such as for clients of the VxFS File Change Log feature, in backup and restore utilities, and for replication products. Typically, these applications store information by inode numbers because a path name for a file or directory can be very long, thus the need for an easy method of obtaining a path name.

See Reverse path name lookup.