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Linux top 50 cmd - File

The file command tests each argument passed to it for one of three things: the filesystem test, the magic number test, or the language test. The first test to succeed causes the file type to be printed. If the file is text (it is an ASCII file), it then attempts to guess which language. The following example identifies the file nquota as a text file that contains Perl commands. A magic number file is a file that has data in particular fixed formats. Here is an example for checking the file nquota to see what kind of file it is: file nquota nquota: perl commands text