FileMagic Library Binding

VERSION

This documentation refers to filemagic version 0.7.3

DESCRIPTION

FileMagic extension module. See also libmagic(3), file(1) and magic(4).

Constants

MAGIC_NONE: No flags
MAGIC_DEBUG: Turn on debugging
MAGIC_SYMLINK: Follow symlinks
MAGIC_COMPRESS: Check inside compressed files
MAGIC_DEVICES: Look at the contents of devices
MAGIC_MIME: Return a mime string
MAGIC_CONTINUE: Return all matches, not just the first
MAGIC_CHECK: Print warnings to stderr

Methods

file(filename): Returns a textual description of the contents of the filename argument
buffer(string): Returns a textual description of the contents of the string argument
check(filename): Checks the validity of entries in the database file passed in as filename
compile(filename): Compiles the database file passed in as filename
load(filename): Loads the database file passed in as filename
close(): Closes the magic database and frees any memory allocated

Synopsis

require 'filemagic'

p FileMagic::VERSION
# => "0.7.3"
p FileMagic::MAGIC_VERSION
# => "5.39"

p FileMagic.new.flags
# => []

FileMagic.open(:mime) { |fm|
  p fm.flags
  # => [:mime_type, :mime_encoding]
  p fm.file(__FILE__)
  # => "text/plain; charset=us-ascii"
  p fm.file(__FILE__, true)
  # => "text/plain"

  fm.flags = [:raw, :continue]
  p fm.flags
  # => [:continue, :raw]
}

fm = FileMagic.new
p fm.flags
# => []

mime = FileMagic.mime
p mime.flags
# => [:mime_type, :mime_encoding]

Environment

The environment variable MAGIC can be used to set the default magic file name.

Installation

Install the gem:

sudo gem install ruby-filemagic

The file(1) library and headers are required:

Debian/Ubuntu: libmagic-dev
Fedora/SuSE: file-devel
Gentoo: sys-libs/libmagic
OS X: brew install libmagic

Build native extension

rake docker:gem:native

Requires Docker to be installed.

AUTHORS

Travis Whitton <[email protected]> (Original author)
Jens Wille <[email protected]>

CREDITS

Martin Carpenter <[email protected]> for Ruby 1.9.2 compatibility and other improvements.
Pavel Lobashov (@ShockwaveNN) for Dockerfile to build cross-compiled Windows extension (pull request #26).

COPYING

The filemagic extension library is copywrited free software by Travis Whitton <[email protected]>. You can redistribute it under the terms specified in the COPYING file of the Ruby distribution.

WARRANTY

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.