File command

A CLI command available on most Linux platforms; used to determine and display the type of one or more files.

Usage Syntax

file [options]

Common options include;

-f file_name - read the names of the files to be examined from the specified file (this option must be used before others)
-b - display only brief information (don't display file name(s))
-h - don't follow symbolic links (default behaviour on most systems)
-L - follow symbolic links
-i - display MIME type strings rather than human readable ones
-p - attempt to preserve the access time of the file(s) analysed
-z - attempt to look inside compressed files

With most Linux or Unix commands;

Non root users may need to prefix commands with the sudo command, for example: sudo chmod 644 *
Brief help can be displayed using the -h or --help parameter, for example: chmod --help
A full command manual can be displayed using the man command followed by the command name, for example: man chmod
Sometimes 'info' pages are used instead of or to provide more information than man pages; for example: info chmod
Version information can normally be display using the -v, -V or --version parameter, for example: chmod --version. However, this paramater is also frequently used to display verbose output.

noinclude/noinclude

noinclude/noinclude

file test.txt;

test.txt: ASCII text

file test.zip;

test.zip: Zip archive data, at least v2.0 to extract

file mysqltuner.pl;

mysqltuner.pl: perl script text executable

file applications-internet.png;

applications-internet.png: PNG image data, 16 x 16, 8-bit/color RGBA, non-interlaced

The file executable is normally found here: /usr/bin/file