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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"). 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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 77 symbolic link, by default the link is followed and \fBfile\fR tests the file to 78 which the symbolic link refers. 79 .sp 80 .LP 81 If \fIfile\fR is a relocatable object, executable, or shared object, \fBfile\fR 82 prints out information about the file's execution requirements. This 83 information includes the machine class, byte-ordering, static/dynamic linkage, 84 and any software or hardware capability requirements. If \fIfile\fR is a 85 runtime linking configuration file, \fBfile\fR prints information about the 86 target platform, including the machine class and byte-ordering. 87 .sp 88 .LP 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 138 \fB\fB-f\fR \fIffile\fR\fR 139 .ad 140 .RS 12n 141 \fIffile\fR contains a list of the files to be examined. 142 .RE 143 144 .sp 145 .ne 2 146 .na 147 \fB\fB-h\fR\fR 148 .ad 149 .RS 12n 150 When a symbolic link is encountered, this option identifies the file as a 151 symbolic link. If \fB-h\fR is not specified and \fIfile\fR is a symbolic link 152 that refers to a non-existent file, the \fBfile\fR utility identifies the file 153 as a symbolic link, as if \fB-h\fR had been specified. 154 .RE 155 156 .sp 157 .ne 2 158 .na 159 \fB\fB-i\fR\fR 160 .ad 161 .RS 12n 162 If a file is a regular file, this option does not attempt to classify the type 163 of file further, but identifies the file as a "regular file". 164 .RE 165 166 .sp 167 .ne 2 168 .na 169 \fB\fB-m\fR \fImfile\fR\fR 170 .ad 171 .RS 12n 172 .sp 173 .ne 2 174 .na 175 \fB\fB/usr/bin/file\fR\fR 176 .ad 177 .RS 22n 178 Uses \fImfile\fR as an alternate magic file, instead of \fB/etc/magic\fR. 179 .RE 180 181 .sp 182 .ne 2 183 .na 184 \fB\fB/usr/xpg4/bin/file\fR\fR 185 .ad 186 .RS 22n 187 Specifies the name of a file containing position-sensitive tests that are 188 applied to a file in order to classify it (see \fBmagic\fR(4)). If the \fB-m\fR 189 option is specified without specifying the \fB-d\fR option or the \fB-M\fR 190 option, position-sensitive default system tests are applied after the 191 position-sensitive tests specified by the \fB-m\fR option. 192 .RE 193 194 .RE 195 196 .sp 197 .ne 2 198 .na 199 \fB\fB-M\fR \fIMfile\fR\fR 200 .ad 201 .RS 12n 202 Specifies the name of a file containing position-sensitive tests that are 203 applied to a file in order to classify it (see \fBmagic\fR(4)). No 204 position-sensitive default system tests nor context-sensitive default system 205 tests are applied unless the \fB-d\fR option is also specified. 206 .RE 207 208 .sp 209 .LP 210 If the \fB-M\fR option is specified with the \fB-d\fR option, the \fB-m\fR 211 option, or both, or if the \fB-m\fR option is specified with the \fB-d\fR 212 option, the concatenation of the position-sensitive tests specified by these 213 options is applied in the order specified by the appearance of these options. 214 .SH OPERANDS 215 .sp 216 .LP 217 The following operands are supported: 218 .sp 219 .ne 2 220 .na 221 \fB\fIfile\fR\fR 222 .ad 223 .RS 8n 224 A path name of a file to be tested. 225 .RE 226 227 .SH USAGE 228 .sp 229 .LP 230 See \fBlargefile\fR(5) for the description of the behavior of \fBfile\fR when 231 encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes). 232 .SH EXAMPLES 233 .LP 234 \fBExample 1 \fRDetermining if an Argument is a Binary Executable Files 235 .sp 236 .LP 237 The following example determine if an argument is a binary executable file: 238 239 .sp 240 .in +2 241 .nf 242 file "$1" | grep \(miFq executable && 243 printf "%s is executable.\en" "$1" 244 .fi 245 .in -2 246 .sp 247 248 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 249 .sp 250 .LP 251 See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables 252 that affect the execution of \fBfile\fR: \fBLANG\fR, \fBLC_ALL\fR, 253 \fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, and \fBNLSPATH\fR. 254 .SH EXIT STATUS 255 .sp 256 .LP 257 The following exit values are returned: 258 .sp 259 .ne 2 260 .na 261 \fB\fB0\fR\fR 262 .ad 263 .RS 6n 264 Successful completion. 265 .RE 266 267 .sp 268 .ne 2 269 .na 270 \fB\fB>0\fR\fR 271 .ad 272 .RS 6n 273 An error occurred. 274 .RE 275 276 .SH FILES 277 .sp 278 .ne 2 279 .na 280 \fB\fB/etc/magic\fR\fR 281 .ad 282 .RS 14n 283 \fBfile\fR's magic number file 284 .RE 285 286 .SH ATTRIBUTES 287 .sp 288 .LP 289 See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: 290 .sp 291 292 .sp 293 .TS 294 box; 295 c | c 296 l | l . 297 ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE 298 _ 299 CSI Enabled 300 _ 301 Interface Stability Standard 302 .TE 303 304 .SH SEE ALSO 305 .sp 306 .LP 307 \fBcrle\fR(1), \fBelfdump\fR(1), \fBls\fR(1), \fBmagic\fR(4), 308 \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBlargefile\fR(5), \fBstandards\fR(5)