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MagicNumberType infers mime types from leading bits

• 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.

Introduction

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.

Install

Gem

To install this gem in your shell or terminal:

gem install sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type

Gemfile

To add this gem to your Gemfile:

gem 'sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type'

Require

To require the gem in your code:

require 'sixarm_ruby_magic_number_type'

Details

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/

Contributors

• Joel Parker Henderson
• Bill Lazar
• Kip Cole