ian@sq.uucp (Ian F. Darwin) (11/13/88)
In article <1034@investor.UUCP>, Bob Peirce writes, in discussing /etc/magic's contents: >We changed data to file. As the author of one of the freeware file(1) commands in circulation, I would like to suggest that this change is not optimal because it loses some useful information and replaces it with redundant information. The word "data" in the file command's output has a specific meaning: data is non-readable data. Similarly "text" is readable text, "commands text" is shell commands or similar commands. These words in the output of file(1) not only are enshrined by tradition :-), but they are also used by some people who write programs that look at the output of the file command. If you change them, you will break such programs. As a simple example of such a program, consider #! /bin/sh # printable - get printable file(s) in directory file * | grep text | sed 's/:.*//' which you can use as printable | xargs lpr or lpr `printable` depending upon your religion. I know people that use little scripts like this and depend upon the file command doing the right thing. Please: keep "data" for non-printable data and "text" for printable text. Ian Darwin ian@sq.com