AT&T UNIX™PC Unix System V Users Manual - tenox

FILE ( 1 ) FIT..E ( 1 )
NAME
file - determine file type
SYNOPSIS
file [ -c ] [ -f ffile ] [ -m mfile ] arg ...
DESCRIPTION
File performs a series of tests on each argument in an attempt to
classify it. If an argument appears to be ASCII, file examines the
first 512 bytes and tries to guess its language. If an argument is
an executable a..out, file will print the version stamp, provided it
is greater than 0 (see ld(I)).
If the -f option is given, the next argument is taken to be a file
containing the names of the files to be examined.
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. Commentary at the beginning of
/etc/magic explains its format.
The -m option instructs file to use an alternate magic file.
The -c flag causes file to check the magic file for format errors.
This validation is not normally carried out for reasons of
efficiency. No file typing is done under -c.
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