Determine file type in Ruby

Question

How does one reliably determine a file\'s type? File extension analysis is not acceptable. There must be a rubyesque tool similar to the UNIX file(1) comman

Answer 1

You could give shared-mime a try (gem install shared-mime-info). Requires the use ofthe Freedesktop shared-mime-info library, but does both filename/extension checks as well as "magic" checks... tried giving it a whirl myself just now but I don't have the freedesktop shared-mime-info database installed and have to do "real work," unfortunately, but it might be what you're looking for.