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    finfo_open

    finfo::__construct

    (PHP >= 5.3.0, PHP 7, PHP 8, PECL fileinfo >= 0.1.0)

    finfo_open -- finfo::__construct — Create a new finfo instance

    Description

    Procedural style

    finfo_open(int $flags = FILEINFO_NONE, ?string $magic_database = null): finfo|false

    Object-oriented style (constructor):

    public finfo::__construct(int $flags = FILEINFO_NONE, ?string $magic_database = null)

    This function opens a magic database and returns its instance.

    Parameters

    flags

    One or disjunction of more Fileinfo constants.

    magic_database

    Name of a magic database file, usually something like /path/to/magic.mime. If not specified, the MAGIC environment variable is used. If the environment variable isn't set, then PHP's bundled magic database will be used.

    Passing null or an empty string will be equivalent to the default value.

    Return Values

    (Procedural style only) Returns an finfo instance on success, or false on failure.

    Changelog

    Version Description
    8.1.0 Returns an finfo instance now; previously, a resource was returned.
    8.0.3 magic_database is nullable now.

    Examples

    Example #1 Object-oriented style

    <?php
    $finfo     = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, "/usr/share/misc/magic"); // return mime type ala mimetype extension

    /* get mime-type for a specific file */
    $filename = "/usr/local/something.txt";
    echo     $finfo->file($filename);

    ?>

    Example #2 Procedural style

    <?php
    $finfo     = finfo_open(FILEINFO_MIME, "/usr/share/misc/magic"); // return mime type ala mimetype extension

    if (!$finfo) {
    echo     "Opening fileinfo database failed";
    exit();
    }

    /* get mime-type for a specific file */
    $filename = "/usr/local/something.txt";
    echo     finfo_file($finfo, $filename);

    /* close connection */
    finfo_close($finfo);
    ?>

    The above example will output:

    text/plain; charset=us-ascii

    Notes

    Note:

    Generally, using the bundled magic database (by leaving magic_database and the MAGIC environment variables unset) is the best course of action unless you specifically need a custom magic database.

    See Also

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    User Contributed Notes 10 notes

    up
    3
    dario dot borreguero at gmail dot com
    16 years ago
    Platform: WinXP-SP2, PHP5.2.5, MySQL 5.0, Apache 2.2.8

    After reading former notes, I wasn't able to load my magic database: 'magic.mime' file (donwloaded from GnuWin32 project, zipped with the binary files v4.21). I always got an invalid $finfo object or finfo_open(...) returned FALSE.

    In order to be able to load the 'magic.mime' file, Fileinfo library (bundled in PHP5.2.5) also requires 'magic' file.

    For example:
    1. Database:
      c:\php\magic.mime
      c:\php\magic

    2. PHP Code:
    <?php
      $filname     = 'c:\php\php.ini';
          $finfo = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, 'c:\php\magic');
      if (!    $finfo) return false;
      echo     $finfo->file($filename);
    ?>

    For further info see: http://pecl.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=7555

    Pay attention to comments added by 'christophe dot charron dot xul at gmail dot com'

    NOTE: Before upgrading to PHP5.2.5, I was working with PHP5.2.1 and it only required 'magic.mime' file.
    up
    19
    illusivefingers at gmail dot com
    12 years ago
    I am running Windows 7 with Apache.  It took hours to figure out why it was not working.

    First, enable the php_fileinfo.dll extension in you php.ini. You'll also need the four magic files that are found in the following library:

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuwin32/files/file/4.23/file-4.23-bin.zip/download

    An environment variable or a direct path to the file named "magic" is necessary, without any extension. 

    Then, make sure that xdebug is either turned off or set the ini error_reporting to not display notices or warnings for the script.

    Hope this saves someone a few hours of frustration!
    up
    8
    Anonymous
    11 years ago
    For most common image files:
    <?php
    function minimime($fname) {
            $fh=fopen($fname,'rb');
        if (    $fh) {
                $bytes6=fread($fh,6);
                fclose($fh);
            if (    $bytes6===false) return false;
            if (    substr($bytes6,0,3)=="\xff\xd8\xff") return 'image/jpeg';
            if (    $bytes6=="\x89PNG\x0d\x0a") return 'image/png';
            if (    $bytes6=="GIF87a" || $bytes6=="GIF89a") return 'image/gif';
            return     'application/octet-stream';
        }
        return     false;
    }
    ?>
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    1
    olivier dot berger at it-sudparis dot eu
    13 years ago
    On my Debian squeeze system, the path needed is like :
    <?php
    $finfo     = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, "/usr/share/misc/magic.mgc");
    ?>
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    0
    php at brudaswen dot de
    16 years ago
    Since it costed me some time to find the needed magic database files for Windows, just a hint:

    The last release of the GnuWin32 project with both needed files (magic and magic.mime) currently was "file-4.23".
    All releases after 4.23 to 4.25-1 did not contain both needed files.

    Hope that helps.
    up
    0
    php at kingsquare dot nl
    16 years ago
    The current version (1.04) doesnt support a different mime.magic database than the server default.

    (the documentation is thus not correct)
    Ubuntu default location is '/usr/share/file/magic'. In order for the examples to work all finfo_open()-commands must be issued with the extra location accordingly:
    <?php
    $file     = "/path/to/file.jpg";
    $handle = finfo_open(FILEINFO_MIME, '/usr/share/file/magic');
    $mime_type = finfo_file($handle,$file);
    ?>
    up
    0
    ian at createanet dot co dot uk
    17 years ago
    Couldn't get finfo to return the mimetype in the way expected so i made a function to do it with system()

    <?php
    function get_mime_type($filepath) {
            ob_start();
            system("file -i -b {$filepath}");
            $output = ob_get_clean();
            $output = explode("; ",$output);
        if (     is_array($output) ) {
                $output = $output[0];
        }
        return     $output;
    }
    ?>

    hope it works for other people too
    up
    -1
    mark at dynom dot nl
    15 years ago
    It seems there is quite some inconsistency in distributions and loading of magic files.

    On Archlinux, the file is located here:
    /usr/share/misc/file/magic.mgc

    But this:

    <?php
    $fi     = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, '/usr/share/misc/file/magic');
    $fi->file('/tmp/fubar.txt');
    ?>

    Actually segfaults, where if I type the full name (including the file extension:)

    <?php
    $fi     = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, '/usr/share/misc/file/magic.mgc'); // added ".mgc"
    $fi->file('/tmp/fubar.txt');
    ?>

    It works as expected, so I guess something goes wrong with "A .mime and/or .mgc suffix is added if needed."
    up
    -4
    tularis at php dot net
    17 years ago
    On Windows systems people might find that this always returns "application/x-dpkg".
    There are 2 ways of solving this problem:
    1. Get the mime-magic database file from GnuWin32 at <http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuwin32/>
    2. You can manually "fix" the mime-magic file by editing it and escaping all lines starting with !, thus changing each one to \!
    up
    -8
    franssen dot roland at gmail dot com
    14 years ago
    Notice FileInfo::__construct() has strange behavior in PHP < 5.3.1 when a 2nd parameter is set explicitly, e.g.;

    <?php
    $fileInfo     = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, null);
    ?>

    Expected result:
    ----------------
    object(finfo)#2 (0) { }

    Actual result:
    --------------
    Warning: finfo::finfo(): Failed to load magic database at ''. in *** on line ***
    object(finfo)#2 (0) { }

    See http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=51732
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