man/man1b/file.1b

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 FILE 1B "Sep 14, 1992"
 NAME
file - determine the type of a file by examining its contents
 SYNOPSIS

/usr/ucb/file [-f ffile] [-cL] [-m mfile] filename...


 DESCRIPTION

file performs a series of tests on each filename in an attempt to
determine what it contains. If the contents of a file appear to be ASCII
text, file examines the first 512 bytes and tries to guess its language.

file uses the file /etc/magic to identify files that have some sort
of magic number, that is, any file containing a numeric or string
constant that indicates its type.
 OPTIONS
-c

Check for format errors in the magic number file. For reasons of efficiency,
this validation is not normally carried out. No file type-checking is done
under -c.


-f ffile

Get a list of filenames to identify from ffile.


-L

If a file is a symbolic link, test the file the link references rather than the
link itself.


-m mfile

Use mfile as the name of an alternate magic number file.


 EXAMPLES

Example 1 Using file on all the files in a specific user's
directory.

This example illustrates the use of file on all the files in a specific
user's directory:

example% pwd
/usr/blort/misc


example% /usr/ucb/file *

code: mc68020 demand paged executable
code.c: c program text
counts: ascii text
doc: roff,nroff, or eqn input text
empty.file: empty
libz: archive random library
memos: directory
project: symboliclink to /usr/project
script: executable shell script
titles: ascii text
s5.stuff: cpio archive


example%


 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The environment variables LC_CTYPE, LANG, and LC_default
control the character classification throughout file. On entry to
file, these environment variables are checked in the following order:
LC_CTYPE, LANG, and LC_default. When a valid value is found,
remaining environment variables for character classification are ignored. For
example, a new setting for LANG does not override the current valid
character classification rules of LC_CTYPE. When none of the values is
valid, the shell character classification defaults to the POSIX.1 "C"
locale.
 FILES

/etc/magic
 SEE ALSO

magic(4), attributes(5)
 BUGS

file often makes mistakes. In particular, it often suggests that command
files are C programs.

file does not recognize Pascal or LISP.