Open Source software that idents file types

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UncleJoseph
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Open Source software that idents file types

Post by UncleJoseph »

Hey Gang,

Anyone know of any open source software that interrogates the headers/footers of files to show their true format?

For example, if I rename all of my MS-Word documents with a .jpg file extension, Windows will recognize them as image files, unless I know beforehand to open them with a graphical viewer.

So, I'd like to be able to run a program on a folder or group of files to determine if they are truly the kind of file their extensions/file associations imply.
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Salvation122
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Post by Salvation122 »

I'm reasonably certain that for a variety of reasons this can't actually be done.

Do you have a specific case you want to know about?
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Post by UncleJoseph »

No specific case, yet. There is a program that does it, but the training and software cost $4000 (partly because they give you a laptop to keep...but it's not a special laptop, it just has everything pre-loaded on it, and they make a percentage). I just know that there are usually open source solutions to large, corporate retail versions.

FTK is one software package that does it...
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Big Jim
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Post by Big Jim »

Not aware of any open source options that do this, sorry. The software I work with reads the header information to determine application type, but doesn't display a list for a group of files.
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UncleJoseph
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Post by UncleJoseph »

Big Jim wrote:The software I work with reads the header information to determine application type, but doesn't display a list for a group of files.
Does it only do one file at a time then?
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Big Jim
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Post by Big Jim »

No, the file format detection is secondary to the main purpose of the software. It reads the header information so it doesn't have to rely on the extension to determine the type of file when the file is brought into our system.
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UncleJoseph
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Post by UncleJoseph »

If I had more programming ability, I'd just write a utility that does this for me.
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