File Identifier

Identify a file through MIME type and file signature detection.

Purpose

Detect a file's type through MIME type information and file signature (header) bytes.

(File extensions are ignored.)

Uses

*nix systems have the file command, which is a powerful file identifier, and callable from PHP's shell functions.

Nevertheless, this command is not always available.

The main uses of File Identifier are:

• For *nix servers where PHP shell functions are disabled in php.ini ( disable_functions= )
• PHP running on Windows, where no file command natively exists
• When older versions of file (e.g. v. 5.09) are installed on the *nix server, and which do not recognise some files such as .gpg
• Where custom, old, or rare file types cannot be identified by the file command.

Example Usage

    require('FileIdentifier.php');
    require('FileSignatures.php');

    use Tinram\FileIdentifier\FileIdentifier;

    $f = new FileIdentifier('mira.png');
    $r = $f->getResult();
    echo $r['mimeinfo'] . PHP_EOL . $r['fileinfo'];

File Signatures

The file signature data (FileSignatures.php) contain a limited range of common file type signatures in hexadecimal bytes.

This data array can be easily extended with additional and custom file signatures.

License

File Identifier is released under the GPL v.3.