# 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](https://metacpan.org/pod/File::MMagic) only worked with file 3.x.

[File::MimeInfo::Magic](https://metacpan.org/pod/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](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](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](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](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.