Re: file and magic

From: Bill Marcum (bmarcum_at_iglou.com.urgent)
Date: 05/26/04

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    Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 13:43:02 -0400

    ["Followup-To:" header set to alt.comp.linux.]
    On Wed, 26 May 2004 16:13:25 +0100, John Roy
      <anon071396@yahoo.com> wrote:
    > I'm trying to understand the format of the magic file used by 'file' to
    > extract file type data from binary files, usually /usr/share/magic or
    > /etc/magic
    >
    > There seems to be some undocumented syntax in use in this file, at least on
    > my system RedHat linux 7.1. In particular
    >
    > string/b as a type, as in the following example from the magic file on my
    > system:
    >
    > 0 string/b #!\ /bin/sh Bourne shell script text executable
    >
    > What does the '/b' mean? and more importantly where can I go to get summary
    > level information on these extensions?, I've tried man and info, google
    > doesn't help.
    >
    > All help appreciated. Sorry if I've faux pas'd
    >
    On my Debian system, it's documented in "man 5 magic":

     string A string of bytes. The string type specification can
                             be optionally followed by /[Bbc]*. The 

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