file Command file
Guess a file's type
file file ...
file examines each file and takes an educated guess as to its
type. file recognizes the following classes of text files: files
of commands to the shell; files containing the source for a C
program; files containing yacc or lex source; files containing
assembly language source; files containing unformatted documents
that can be passed to nroff; and plain text files that fit into
none of the above categories.
file recognizes the following classes of non-text or binary data
files: the various forms of archives, object files, and link
modules for various machines, and miscellaneous binary data
files.
***** See Also *****
commands, ls, size
***** Notes *****
Because file only reads a set amount of data to determine the
class of a text file, mistakes can happen.
COHERENT Lexicon Page 1