- Git: https://github.com/SixArm/sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type
- Doc: http://sixarm.com/sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type/doc
- Gem: https://rubygems.org/gems/sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type
- Contact: Joel Parker Henderson, joel@sixarm.com
- Project: changes, license, contributing.
Magic numbers are the first bits of a file or data stream which uniquely identify the type of file or data stream.
For example when the first bits are "BM", this identifies the file as a bitmap image file.
For docs go to http://sixarm.com/sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type/doc
Want to help? We're happy to get pull requests.
To install this gem in your shell or terminal:
gem install sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type
To add this gem to your Gemfile:
gem 'sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type'
To require the gem in your code:
require 'sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type'
This gem infers based on widespread programming conventions for data file formats.
These magic numbers are by convention and we are using this guide: http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/oldusers/rno/Computing/File_magic.html
Typical uses of magic numbers:
- to quickly identify a file's data type
- to check if data matches the file's MIME type or extension
- to check if a web form file upload matches its HTTP content type
Compare:
- MIME::Types ruby library
- Unix magic() command for testing files on disk
- http://shared-mime.rubyforge.org/