Patent ID: 7562098

Claim:
A computer system comprising a processor for executing computer executable code, a memory for storing computer executable code and an input/output device, the processor being programmed to execute computer executable code for caching, in a directory cache, information regarding files contained in a target directory, the computer executable code comprising code for: caching a name field wherein the name field comprises a plurality of names of a plurality of files; caching an attribute field associated with the name field wherein the attribute field comprises file information associated with each of the plurality of files; caching a character invalidation field wherein the character invalidation field comprises an indication that file information is invalid, wherein the file information is associated with one or more of the plurality of files and includes one or more file names starting with a selected character, and the indication comprises a first character projection of the invalid file that includes the name starting with the selected character; caching a number invalidated field wherein the number invalidation field comprises an indication of the number of selected characters; caching a security descriptor field wherein the security descriptor field comprises a data for identifying a user; and wholly invalidating the directory cache if the number invalidated field includes more than a predetermined number of the selected characters.