Linux file command - query file types

The Linux file command is used to query file types.

Linux file command Function Description

Use the file command to query the file type of a specified file to know whether a file is a binary executable, a shell script file, or some other format. file command can identify file types such as directory, shell script, English text, binary executable, C source file, text file, and DOS executable file.

Linux file command Syntax

file [option] [filename]

The meaning of each option in the command is shown in the table.

Option	Description
-v	Displays version information after standard output and exits
-z	Probe the compressed file type
-L	Allow symbolic links
-b	The file name is not displayed when the identification results are listed
-c	Detailed display of command execution process, easy to troubleshoot or analyze the program execution situation
-i	Display MIME type
-f <Name file>	Read the list of file names to analyze from the file

Linux file command Examples

View the file types of all files in the /home/deepinout directory

file /home/deepinout/*

Output:

File names are not displayed when viewing the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file type.

[root@rhel ～]# file -b /root/anaconda-ks.cfg
ASCII English text

Display the MIME type of the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file.

[root@rhel ～]# file -i /root/anaconda-ks.cfg
/root/anaconda-ks.cfg: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Display file type

[root@localhost ~]# file install.log
install.log: UTF-8 Unicode text

[root@localhost ~]# file -b install.log      <== Do not display file names
UTF-8 Unicode text

[root@localhost ~]# file -i install.log      <== Displays the MIME category.
install.log: text/plain; charset=utf-8

[root@localhost ~]# file -b -i install.log
text/plain; charset=utf-8

Display file types for symbolic links

[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /var/mail
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 08-13 00:11 /var/mail -> spool/mail

[root@localhost ~]# file /var/mail
/var/mail: symbolic link to `spool/mail'

[root@localhost ~]# file -L /var/mail
/var/mail: directory

[root@localhost ~]# file /var/spool/mail
/var/spool/mail: directory

[root@localhost ~]# file -L /var/spool/mail
/var/spool/mail: directory