FILE(C) XENIX System V FILE(C)
Name
file - Determines file type.
Syntax
file [ -m ] file ...
file [ -m ] -f namesfile
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 the -f option is given, file takes the list of filenames
from namesfile. If the -m option is given, file sets the
access time for the examined file to the current time.
Otherwise, the access time remains unchanged.
Several object file formats are recognized. For a.out and
x.out format object files, file reports ``separate'' if the
file was linked with cc -i, ``pure'' if the file was linked
with cc -n, and ``not stripped'' if the file was not linked
with cc -s or if strip(CP) was not run.
Credit
This utility was developed at the University of California
at Berkeley and is used with permission.
Notes
file makes errors; in particular it often mistakes command
files for C programs.
The file command can only distinguish English text. If an 8
bit character (a character not in the English alphabet) is
found, then the text will be defined as ``8 bit text''.
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