diff --git a/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs b/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
index 32707da36ff..2f3a2d1b59a 100644
--- a/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
+++ b/src/uu/ls/src/ls.rs
@@ -1671,7 +1671,7 @@ fn display_item_long(
     #[cfg(unix)]
     {
         if config.inode {
-            let _ = write!(out, "{} ", get_inode(md));
+            let _ = write!(out, "{} ", get_inode(item.md()));
         }
     }
 
@@ -1736,8 +1736,8 @@ fn display_item_long(
 }
 
 #[cfg(unix)]
-fn get_inode(metadata: &Metadata) -> String {
-    format!("{:8}", metadata.ino())
+fn get_inode(metadata: Option<&Metadata>) -> String {
+    metadata.map_or_else(|| format!("{:>8}", "?"), |md| format!("{:>8}", md.ino()))
 }
 
 // Currently getpwuid is `linux` target only. If it's broken out into
@@ -1970,7 +1970,7 @@ fn display_file_name(
     #[cfg(unix)]
     {
         if config.format != Format::Long && config.inode {
-            name = path.md().map_or_else(|| "?".to_string(), get_inode) + " " + &name;
+            name = get_inode(path.md()) + " " + &name;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs b/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
index 56711d6e0c8..09efb542bf4 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_ls.rs
@@ -2259,6 +2259,7 @@ fn test_ls_dangling_symlinks() {
 
     at.mkdir("temp_dir");
     at.symlink_file("does_not_exist", "temp_dir/dangle");
+    at.symlink_file("temp_dir", "temp_dir/a");
 
     scene.ucmd().arg("-L").arg("temp_dir/dangle").fails();
     scene.ucmd().arg("-H").arg("temp_dir/dangle").fails();
@@ -2273,8 +2274,13 @@ fn test_ls_dangling_symlinks() {
         .ucmd()
         .arg("-Li")
         .arg("temp_dir")
+        .arg("-w40")
         .succeeds() // this should fail, though at the moment, ls lacks a way to propagate errors encountered during display
-        .stdout_contains(if cfg!(windows) { "dangle" } else { "? dangle" });
+        .stdout_contains(if cfg!(windows) {
+            "dangle"
+        } else {
+            "      ? dangle"
+        });
 }
 
 #[test]