Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!mcnc!decvax.dec.com!zinn!siia!drd
From: drd@siia.mv.com (David Dick)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: File "type"
Message-ID: <1990Sep27.144913.28446@siia.mv.com>
Date: 27 Sep 90 14:49:13 GMT
References: <171@alchemy.UUCP>
Organization: Software Innovations, Inc.
Lines: 24

In <171@alchemy.UUCP> bbs@alchemy.UUCP (BBS Administration) writes:


>	Could someone explain how the command "file" works? Specifically, I am
>writing a program that allows users to navigate their $HOME directory and
>any subdirectories (they cannot leave their $HOME directory though, for
>security reasons) to find files that are to be read into a text editor.
>Some text editor forks this program, and when the user selects a file to
>read, it writes the pathname to a temporary file which the editor reads 
>and then loads into its' buffer.

[more description omitted]

I consider file(1) to be a useful heuristic program for manual use,
but I would never put it in a script for automatic use.

In other words, it's just a guesser, and does not contribute to 
making a robust application.

If you have particular requirements of a target file, you should
establish them with your own code.

David Dick
Software Innovations, Inc.