CODEWITHSUNDEEP
algorithmfile-type
DenaliHardtail
DenaliHardtail

Reputation: 28306

How do I read an unknown file type?

I have a file. It's not a text file. What is the logical process and tests one would use to read the file to see what it contains? File structure, vendor, data are all unknown.

Here is a sample of the data:

enter image description here

Upvotes: 1

Views: 5716

Answers (2)

ferdy
ferdy

Reputation: 7716

In Linux you can use the file command to determine the type of a given file. file determines the type of file using a pattern that is taken from a special pattern file named magic. To determine, it parses the content of the "unknown" file. For more detailed information consult the man page of the file(1) command and the magic(5) pattern file. 

$ echo "Hello World" > foo.txt 
$ mv foo.txt foo
$ file foo
foo: ASCII text

$ echo '#!/bin/bash' > foo 
$ file foo 
foo: Bourne-Again shell script, ASCII text executable

$ zip foo.zip foo
updating: foo (stored 0%)
$ mv foo.zip foo
$ file foo
foo: Zip archive data, at least v1.0 to extract

Upvotes: 2

Grzegorz Żur
Grzegorz Żur

Reputation: 49181

The first step is to check against the list of known file signatures also known as magic numbers. Check file utility on GNU/Linux.

List of file signatures from Wikipedia

Upvotes: 2

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