Get File MIME Type from Command Line
I've gotten skilled at shell scripting over the years. I love a good GUI but knowing how to automate makes you a much more powerful engineer. Much of my scripting requires recursing over directories and processing a file if it meets a given criteria, which is often file extension or MIME type.
You can use the following shell command to get a file's MIME type:
file --mime-type -b Downloads/main.js
# text/plain
file --mime-type -b Downloads/logo.jpg
# image/jpeg
It's important to use the brief (-b) option in the command or you may receive an error message.
MIME type is used for validation and any number of other informational use cases. Luckily the file command and and a flag is all you need!
![9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos]()
The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks. Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead. Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...
![Animated 3D Flipping Menu with CSS]()
CSS animations aren't just for basic fades or sliding elements anymore -- CSS animations are capable of much more. I've showed you how you can create an exploding logo (applied with JavaScript, but all animation is CSS), an animated Photo Stack, a sweet...
![Elegant Overflow with CSS Ellipsis]()
Overflow with text is always a big issue, especially in a programmatic environment. There's always only so much space but variable content to add into that space. I was recently working on a table for displaying user information and noticed that longer strings were...
![CSS Custom Cursors]()
Remember the Web 1.0 days where you had to customize your site in every way possible? You abused the scrollbars in Internet Explorer, of course, but the most popular external service I can remember was CometCursor. CometCursor let you create and use loads of custom cursors for...