Provided by: libfile-libmagic-perl_1.16-1_amd64 
NAME
File::LibMagic - Determine MIME types of data or files using libmagic
VERSION
version 1.16
SYNOPSIS
use File::LibMagic;
my $magic = File::LibMagic->new();
my $info = $magic->info_from_filename('path/to/file');
# Prints a description like "ASCII text"
print $info->{description};
# Prints a MIME type like "text/plain"
print $info->{mime_type};
# Prints a character encoding like "us-ascii"
print $info->{encoding};
# Prints a MIME type with encoding like "text/plain; charset=us-ascii"
print $info->{mime_with_encoding};
my $file_content = read_file('path/to/file');
$info = $magic->info_from_string($file_content);
open my $fh, '<', 'path/to/file' or die $!;
$info = $magic->info_from_handle($fh);
DESCRIPTION
The "File::LibMagic" is a simple perl interface to libmagic from the file package (version
4.x or 5.x). You will need both the library (libmagic.so) and the header file (magic.h) to
build this Perl module.
Installing libmagic
On Debian/Ubuntu run:
sudo apt-get install libmagic-dev
on Red Hat run:
sudo yum install file-devel
On Mac you can use homebrew (http://brew.sh/):
brew install libmagic
Specifying lib and/or include directories
On some systems, you may need to pass additional lib and include directories to the
Makefile.PL. You can do this with the `--lib` and `--include` parameters:
perl Makefile.PL --lib /usr/local/lib --include /usr/local/include
You can pass these parameters multiple times to specify more than one location.
API
This module provides an object-oriented API with the following methods:
File::LibMagic->new()
Creates a new File::LibMagic object.
Using the object oriented interface only opens the magic database once, which is probably
most efficient for repeated uses.
Each "File::LibMagic" object loads the magic database independently of other
"File::LibMagic" objects, so you may want to share a single object across many modules.
This method takes the following named parameters:
• magic_file
This should be a string or an arrayref containing one or more magic files.
If a file you provide doesn't exist the constructor will throw an exception, but only
with libmagic 4.17+.
If you don't set this parameter, the constructor will throw an exception if it can't
find any magic files at all.
Note that even if you're using a custom file, you probably also want to use the
standard file (/usr/share/misc/magic on my system, yours may vary).
• follow_symlinks
If this is true, then calls to "$magic->info_from_filename" will follow symlinks to
the real file.
• uncompress
If this is true, then compressed files (such as gzip files) will be uncompressed, and
the various "info_from_*" methods will return info about the uncompressed file.
$magic->info_from_filename('path/to/file')
This method returns info about the given file. The return value is a hash reference with
four keys:
• description
A textual description of the file content like "ASCII C program text".
• mime_type
The MIME type without a character encoding, like "text/x-c".
• encoding
Just the character encoding, like "us-ascii".
• mime_with_encoding
The MIME type with a character encoding, like "text/x-c; charset=us-ascii". Note that
if no encoding was found, this will be the same as the "mime_type" key.
$magic->info_from_string($string)
This method returns info about the given string. The string can be passed as a reference
to save memory.
The return value is the same as that of "$mime->info_from_filename()".
$magic->info_from_handle($fh)
This method returns info about the given filehandle. It will read data starting from the
handle's current position, and leave the handle at that same position after reading.
DISCOURAGED APIS
This module offers two different procedural APIs based on optional exports, the "easy" and
"complete" interfaces. There is also an older OO API still available. All of these APIs
are discouraged, but will not be removed in the near future, nor will using them cause any
warnings.
I strongly recommend you use the new OO API. It's simpler than the complete interface,
more efficient than the easy interface, and more featureful than the old OO API.
The Old OO API
This API uses the same constructor as the current API.
• $magic->checktype_contents($data)
Returns the MIME type of the data given as the first argument. The data can be passed
as a plain scalar or as a reference to a scalar.
This is the same value as would be returned by the "file" command with the "-i"
switch.
• $magic->checktype_filename($filename)
Returns the MIME type of the given file.
This is the same value as would be returned by the "file" command with the "-i"
switch.
• $magic->describe_contents($data)
Returns a description (as a string) of the data given as the first argument. The data
can be passed as a plain scalar or as a reference to a scalar.
This is the same value as would be returned by the "file" command with no switches.
• $magic->describe_filename($filename)
Returns a description (as a string) of the given file.
This is the same value as would be returned by the "file" command with no switches.
The "easy" interface
This interface is exported by:
use File::LibMagic ':easy';
This interface exports two subroutines:
• MagicBuffer($data)
Returns the description of a chunk of data, just like the "describe_contents" method.
• MagicFile($filename)
Returns the description of a file, just like the "describe_filename" method.
The "complete" interface
This interface is exported by:
use File::LibMagic ':complete';
This interface exports several subroutines:
• magic_open($flags)
This subroutine opens creates a magic handle. See the libmagic man page for a
description of all the flags. These are exported by the ":complete" import.
my $handle = magic_open(MAGIC_MIME);
• magic_load($handle, $filename)
This subroutine actually loads the magic file. The $filename argument is optional.
There should be a sane default compiled into your "libmagic" library.
• magic_buffer($handle, $data)
This returns information about a chunk of data as a string. What it returns depends on
the flags you passed to "magic_open", a description, a MIME type, etc.
• magic_file($handle, $filename)
This returns information about a file as a string. What it returns depends on the
flags you passed to "magic_open", a description, a MIME type, etc.
• magic_close($handle)
Closes the magic handle.
EXCEPTIONS
This module can throw an exception if your system runs out of memory when trying to call
"magic_open" internally.
BUGS
This module is totally dependent on the version of file on your system. It's possible that
the tests will fail because of this. Please report these failures so I can make the tests
smarter. Please make sure to report the version of file on your system as well!
DEPENDENCIES/PREREQUISITES
This module requires file 4.x or file 5x and the associated libmagic library and headers
(http://darwinsys.com/file/).
RELATED MODULES
Andreas created File::LibMagic because he wanted to use libmagic (from file 4.x)
File::MMagic only worked with file 3.x.
File::MimeInfo::Magic uses the magic file from freedesktop.org which is encoded in XML,
and is thus not the fastest approach. See
<http://mail.gnome.org/archives/nautilus-list/2003-December/msg00260.html> for a
discussion of this issue.
File::Type uses a relatively small magic file, which is directly hacked into the module
code. It is quite fast but the database is quite small relative to the file package.
SUPPORT
Please submit bugs to the CPAN RT system at
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=File-LibMagic or via email at
bug-file-libmagic@rt.cpan.org.
Bugs may be submitted at <http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=File::LibMagic>
or via email to bug-file::libmagic@rt.cpan.org <mailto:bug-file::libmagic@rt.cpan.org>.
I am also usually active on IRC as 'autarch' on "irc://irc.perl.org".
SOURCE
The source code repository for File-LibMagic can be found at
<https://github.com/houseabsolute/File-LibMagic>.
DONATIONS
If you'd like to thank me for the work I've done on this module, please consider making a
"donation" to me via PayPal. I spend a lot of free time creating free software, and would
appreciate any support you'd care to offer.
Please note that I am not suggesting that you must do this in order for me to continue
working on this particular software. I will continue to do so, inasmuch as I have in the
past, for as long as it interests me.
Similarly, a donation made in this way will probably not make me work on this software
much more, unless I get so many donations that I can consider working on free software
full time (let's all have a chuckle at that together).
To donate, log into PayPal and send money to autarch@urth.org, or use the button at
<http://www.urth.org/~autarch/fs-donation.html>.
AUTHORS
• Andreas Fitzner
• Michael Hendricks <michael@ndrix.org>
• Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>
CONTRIBUTORS
• E. Choroba <choroba@matfyz.cz>
• Mithun Ayachit <mayachit@amfam.com>
• Olaf Alders <olaf@wundersolutions.com>
• Tom Wyant <wyant@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2017 by Andreas Fitzner, Michael Hendricks, and Dave
Rolsky.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this
distribution.