FILE(1)			 HP-UX 5.0		       FILE(1)

     NAME
	  file - determine file type

     SYNOPSIS
	  file [ -c ] [ -f ffile ] [ -m mfile ] arg ...

     HP-UX COMPATIBILITY
	  Level:    HP-UX/STANDARD

	  Origin:   System V

     DESCRIPTION
	  File performs a series of  tests  on	each  argument	in  an
	  attempt to classify it.  If an argument appears to be ASCII,
	  file examines the first 512 bytes and	 tries	to  guess  its
	  language.   If an argument is an executable a.out file, file
	  will print the version stamp, provided it is greater than  0
	  (see the description of the -V option in ld(1)).

	  File uses the file /etc/magic to identify  files  that  have
	  some	sort  of  magic number, that is, any file containing a
	  numeric  or  string  constant	 that  indicates   its	 type.
	  Commentary  at  the  beginning  of  /etc/magic  explains its
	  format.

	  The options are as follows:

	  -c	  causes file to  check	 the  magic  file  for	format
		  errors.  This validation is not normally carried out
		  for reasons of efficiency.  No  file	classification
		  is done under -c.

	  -fffile specifies that ffile is a file containing a list  of
		  the  files  which  are  to  be  examined.  File then
		  classifies each file whose name appears in ffile.

	  -mmfile instructs file to use an alternate magic file.

     SEE ALSO
	  ld(1).