Identify a file

Name

file - determine type of files

Synopsis

$ file [options...] [files...]

Description

file attempts to identify the type of files.

First, an attempt is made to identify a given file based on predetermined binary patterns. If this fails, file will fall back to determining the type based on the filename.

Options

• --help: Display this message
• -b, --brief: Do not prepend file names to output lines
• -I, --mime-type: Only show mime type.

Arguments

• files: Files to identify

Examples

# Identify a file
$ file Buggie.png
Buggie.png: PNG image data, 64 x 138
# Identify all files in the current directory, and show only the mime type.
$ file -I *