How to get the mime type of a file from the command line?

Question

I'm trying to get the mime type of a file from the command line as a printed string (eg. application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet).

I looked up how to do this and found the xdg-mime command.

From reading the man page (man xdg-mime), it seems I should run xdg-mime query filetype FILE. However, when I run this with any file it prints nothing and exits.

Is there a way to fix this? An alternative command?

score 148 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 31 '10 at 23:44

148

Use file --mime-type -b filename

Look at file --help for more tips.

answered Aug 31 '10 at 23:44

Oli

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score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 20 '20 at 22:10

5

mimetype /path/to/file

Tested in 18.04

answered Feb 20 '20 at 22:10

cipricus

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`mimetype` works in 14.04 and above. – Mooncake Jun 22 '20 at 15:37
2

Also only detects the mimetype based on the file extension it seems – Dark Star1 Feb 01 '21 at 15:21
Works in 20.04 *but* it's like a million times slower than file --mime-type – Fran Marzoa Jun 27 '21 at 10:52

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

5

The great answer on this page can be put in a function or script like so:

Example

$ mime_type.sh /etc/passwd  
text/plain

mime_type.sh

function mime_type()
{
  file --mime-type -b $*
}

mime_type $*

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

1

answered Dec 13 '16 at 14:00

brad parks

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score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 05 '20 at 08:31

4

xdg-mime and file query different databases (xdg-mime is more comprehensive). See Why the difference between the results with "file --mime-type" and "xdg-mime query filetype"? for more discussion.

xdg-mime does not work correctly from a non-desktop session (e.g. if you're SSH'd into a machine).

edited Feb 05 '20 at 08:31

Yousha Aleayoub

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answered Jan 01 '20 at 16:26

gerardw

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How to get the mime type of a file from the command line?

4 Answers4

Example

mime_type.sh

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