Print this page
4732 /usr/bin/file should provide -b option for compatiblity with GNU/BSD file
   1 '\" te
   2 .\" Copyright 1989 AT&T Copyright (c) 1992, X/Open Company Limited All Rights Reserved Portions Copyright (c) 2006, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved
   3 .\" Sun Microsystems, Inc. gratefully acknowledges The Open Group for permission to reproduce portions of its copyrighted documentation. Original documentation from The Open Group can be obtained online at
   4 .\" http://www.opengroup.org/bookstore/.
   5 .\" The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The Open Group, have given us permission to reprint portions of their documentation. In the following statement, the phrase "this text" refers to portions of the system documentation. Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form in the Sun OS Reference Manual, from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2004 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between these versions and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html.
   6 .\"  This notice shall appear on any product containing this material.
   7 .\" The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the Common Development and Distribution License (the "License").  You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   8 .\" You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing.  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
   9 .\" When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE.  If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
  10 .TH FILE 1 "Sep 10, 2013"
  11 .SH NAME
  12 file \- determine file type
  13 .SH SYNOPSIS
  14 .LP
  15 .nf
  16 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR [\fB-dh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  17 .fi
  18 
  19 .LP
  20 .nf
  21 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR [\fB-dh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  22 .fi
  23 
  24 .LP
  25 .nf
  26 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-h\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  27 .fi
  28 
  29 .LP
  30 .nf
  31 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-h\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  32 .fi
  33 
  34 .LP
  35 .nf
  36 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR \fB-c\fR [\fB-d\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR]
  37 .fi
  38 
  39 .LP
  40 .nf
  41 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR [\fB-dh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  42 .fi
  43 
  44 .LP
  45 .nf
  46 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR [\fB-dh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  47 .fi
  48 
  49 .LP
  50 .nf
  51 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-h\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  52 .fi
  53 
  54 .LP
  55 .nf
  56 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-h\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  57 .fi
  58 
  59 .LP
  60 .nf
  61 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR \fB-c\fR [\fB-d\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR]
  62 .fi
  63 
  64 .SH DESCRIPTION
  65 .sp
  66 .LP
  67 The \fBfile\fR utility performs a series of tests on each file supplied by
  68 \fIfile\fR and, optionally, on each file listed in \fIffile\fR in an attempt to
  69 classify it. If the file is not a regular file, its file type is identified.
  70 The file types directory, \fBFIFO\fR, block special, and character special are
  71 identified as such. If the file is a regular file and the file is zero-length,
  72 it is identified as an empty file.
  73 .sp
  74 .LP
  75 If \fIfile\fR appears to be a text file, \fBfile\fR examines the first 512
  76 bytes and tries to determine its programming language. If \fIfile\fR is a


  89 By default, \fBfile\fR will try to use the localized magic file
  90 \fB/usr/lib/locale/\fIlocale\fR/LC_MESSAGES/magic\fR, if it exists, to identify
  91 files that have a magic number. For example, in the Japanese locale, \fBfile\fR
  92 will try to use \fB/usr/lib/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/magic\fR. If a localized
  93 magic file does not exist, \fBfile\fR will utilize \fB/etc/magic\fR. A magic
  94 number is a numeric or string constant that indicates the file type. See
  95 \fBmagic\fR(4) for an explanation of the format of \fB/etc/magic\fR.
  96 .sp
  97 .LP
  98 If \fIfile\fR does not exist, cannot be read, or its file status could not be
  99 determined, it is not considered an error that affects the exit status. The
 100 output will indicate that the file was processed, but that its type could not
 101 be determined.
 102 .SH OPTIONS
 103 .sp
 104 .LP
 105 The following options are supported:
 106 .sp
 107 .ne 2
 108 .na









 109 \fB\fB-c\fR\fR
 110 .ad
 111 .RS 12n
 112 Checks the magic file for format errors. For reasons of efficiency, this
 113 validation is normally not carried out.
 114 .RE
 115 
 116 .sp
 117 .ne 2
 118 .na
 119 \fB\fB-d\fR\fR
 120 .ad
 121 .RS 12n
 122 Applies any position-sensitive and context-sensitive default system tests to
 123 the file.
 124 .RE
 125 
 126 .sp
 127 .ne 2
 128 .na


   1 '\" te
   2 .\" Copyright 1989 AT&T Copyright (c) 1992, X/Open Company Limited All Rights Reserved Portions Copyright (c) 2006, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved
   3 .\" Sun Microsystems, Inc. gratefully acknowledges The Open Group for permission to reproduce portions of its copyrighted documentation. Original documentation from The Open Group can be obtained online at
   4 .\" http://www.opengroup.org/bookstore/.
   5 .\" The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The Open Group, have given us permission to reprint portions of their documentation. In the following statement, the phrase "this text" refers to portions of the system documentation. Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form in the Sun OS Reference Manual, from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2004 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between these versions and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html.
   6 .\"  This notice shall appear on any product containing this material.
   7 .\" The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the Common Development and Distribution License (the "License").  You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   8 .\" You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing.  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
   9 .\" When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE.  If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
  10 .TH FILE 1 "Apr 11, 2014"
  11 .SH NAME
  12 file \- determine file type
  13 .SH SYNOPSIS
  14 .LP
  15 .nf
  16 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR [\fB-bdh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  17 .fi
  18 
  19 .LP
  20 .nf
  21 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR [\fB-bdh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  22 .fi
  23 
  24 .LP
  25 .nf
  26 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-bh\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  27 .fi
  28 
  29 .LP
  30 .nf
  31 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-bh\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  32 .fi
  33 
  34 .LP
  35 .nf
  36 \fB/usr/bin/file\fR \fB-c\fR [\fB-d\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR]
  37 .fi
  38 
  39 .LP
  40 .nf
  41 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR [\fB-bdh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  42 .fi
  43 
  44 .LP
  45 .nf
  46 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR [\fB-bdh\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  47 .fi
  48 
  49 .LP
  50 .nf
  51 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-bh\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR] \fIfile\fR...
  52 .fi
  53 
  54 .LP
  55 .nf
  56 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR \fB-i\fR [\fB-bh\fR] \fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR
  57 .fi
  58 
  59 .LP
  60 .nf
  61 \fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR \fB-c\fR [\fB-d\fR] [\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR] [\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR]
  62 .fi
  63 
  64 .SH DESCRIPTION
  65 .sp
  66 .LP
  67 The \fBfile\fR utility performs a series of tests on each file supplied by
  68 \fIfile\fR and, optionally, on each file listed in \fIffile\fR in an attempt to
  69 classify it. If the file is not a regular file, its file type is identified.
  70 The file types directory, \fBFIFO\fR, block special, and character special are
  71 identified as such. If the file is a regular file and the file is zero-length,
  72 it is identified as an empty file.
  73 .sp
  74 .LP
  75 If \fIfile\fR appears to be a text file, \fBfile\fR examines the first 512
  76 bytes and tries to determine its programming language. If \fIfile\fR is a


  89 By default, \fBfile\fR will try to use the localized magic file
  90 \fB/usr/lib/locale/\fIlocale\fR/LC_MESSAGES/magic\fR, if it exists, to identify
  91 files that have a magic number. For example, in the Japanese locale, \fBfile\fR
  92 will try to use \fB/usr/lib/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/magic\fR. If a localized
  93 magic file does not exist, \fBfile\fR will utilize \fB/etc/magic\fR. A magic
  94 number is a numeric or string constant that indicates the file type. See
  95 \fBmagic\fR(4) for an explanation of the format of \fB/etc/magic\fR.
  96 .sp
  97 .LP
  98 If \fIfile\fR does not exist, cannot be read, or its file status could not be
  99 determined, it is not considered an error that affects the exit status. The
 100 output will indicate that the file was processed, but that its type could not
 101 be determined.
 102 .SH OPTIONS
 103 .sp
 104 .LP
 105 The following options are supported:
 106 .sp
 107 .ne 2
 108 .na
 109 \fB\fB-b\fR\fR
 110 .ad
 111 .RS 12n
 112 Be brief, do not print leading filename.
 113 .RE
 114 
 115 .sp
 116 .ne 2
 117 .na
 118 \fB\fB-c\fR\fR
 119 .ad
 120 .RS 12n
 121 Checks the magic file for format errors. For reasons of efficiency, this
 122 validation is normally not carried out.
 123 .RE
 124 
 125 .sp
 126 .ne 2
 127 .na
 128 \fB\fB-d\fR\fR
 129 .ad
 130 .RS 12n
 131 Applies any position-sensitive and context-sensitive default system tests to
 132 the file.
 133 .RE
 134 
 135 .sp
 136 .ne 2
 137 .na