How to check file type in linux ?

In our last post we saw which are the different file types in linux and how to identify different file types from ls -l output. But we have a command called file to determine the file type. file command tests each file prints the fileype. The syntax for file command is



file [options] filename

Sample Outputs

  • regular text file
    $ file README.txt

    README.txt: ASCII text
  • a directory
    $ file /etc

    /etc: directory
  • a block device file
    $ file /dev/sda1

    /dev/sda1: block special
  • a symbolic link
    $ file /bin/thunderbird

    /bin/thunderbird: symbolic link to `/usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird'
  • a character file
    $ file /dev/input/event0

    /dev/input/event0: character special
  • named pipe file
    $ file mypipe

    mypipe: fifo (named pipe)
  • socket file
    $ file /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

    /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock: socket
File command can be used with more options based on our requirement. For more details on file command see the man pages

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