BSD File Formats Manual

MAGIC(5)                                                         BSD File Formats Manual                                                        MAGIC(5)

NAME
     magic — file command's magic pattern file

DESCRIPTION
     This manual page documents the format of the magic file as used by the file(1) command, version 5.22.  The file(1) command identifies the type of a file using, among other tests, a test for whether the file contains certain “magic patterns”.  The file /usr/share/misc/magic specifies what patterns are to be tested for, what message or MIME type to print if a particular pattern is found, and additional information to extract from the file.

     Each line of the file specifies a test to be performed.  A test compares the data starting at a particular offset in the file with a byte value, a string or a numeric value.  If the test succeeds, a message is printed.  The line consists of the following fields:

     offset   A n