file extensions??

zaid · 01-17-2006, 07:23 PM

hello!
what the replacement of windows file extensions in linux
how could someone recognize whta type pf file this is and run it using the suitable application?

thanks

IBall · 01-17-2006, 07:30 PM

Some linux files do have extensions - such as .odt for Open Document, .html for HTML, just like in windows.

Executable files dont need extensions, they are made executable by setting the execute permission - see man chmod.

See the manual page for the "file" command. file will tell you what type of file it is.

But really, I don't know what you are asking. Can you post more details?

--Ian

pixellany · 01-17-2006, 07:32 PM

File type extensions are the same across platforms---ie pdf is pdf, jpg is jpg etc.

You will of course find some extensions that are only used on one platform or the other.

There are typically configuration setting that tell the system what default app to use with a given extension. This will depend on the system you are using.

frob23 · 01-17-2006, 07:48 PM

IBall is correct, for the most part files are determined by their magic number (which is the pattern at the start of a file) and not by extension. "man file" does a good job of explaining this.

There are applications which are aware of extensions and use them for easily location files which belong to them.

SciYro · 01-17-2006, 10:28 PM

actually, extension matter in the GUI land. The popular DE's (and all file managers iv every tried, besides worker) dont use magic numbers to determine file type (which is really sad), this makes extensions needed for users documents. On the lower levels of the system (traditional UNIX), file type is meaningless, as the user is the one who opens the file in whatever program they want.

the command "file" can be used to see what type of file something is, but it wont match files to programs or extentions.