1.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993, 1994 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)file.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 03/31/94 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt FILE 1 10.Os 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm file 13.Nd identify file content 14.Sh SYNOPSIS 15.Nm file 16.Op Fl h 17.Ar file ... 18.Sh DESCRIPTION 19.Nm File 20tests the specified files and attempts to classify them. 21If a file is a text file, 22it attempts to determine the type of text (e.g. 23.Xr csh 1 24commands or C source code). 25.Pp 26The options are as follows: 27.Bl -tag -width Ds 28.It Fl h 29If a symbolic link is specified, identify the file as a symbolic 30link. 31By default, symbolic links are only identified if they reference 32non-existent files. 33.El 34.Sh COMPATIBILITY 35Previous implementations of the 36.Nm file 37utility did not follow symbolic links by default. 38.Sh BUGS 39As many tests are used and 40.Nm file 41stops testing on the first successful one, it can often make mistakes. 42.Sh HISTORY 43A 44.Nm file 45command appeared in 46.At v6 . 47