Binary

Go module and command line utility for checking if the given file or data is likely to be binary or text.

It does so by reading the first, middle and last 24 bytes of the file and trying to convert the data to utf8.
If one of the 24 byte blocks can not be converted to utf8, it's considered to be a binary file.
Also, if one of the blocks have more than 33% zero bytes, it's considered to be a binary file.
If the file is empty, it's considered to be a text file.
The binary utility has overlapping functionality with the file utility, but with a more limited focus.
If the first 24 bytes indicates that it's a binary file, the deduction is done, and no more seeking or reading will happen.

Installing the utility

With Go 1.17 or later:

go install github.com/xyproto/binary/cmd/binary@latest

Example use

binary /usr/bin/ls returns binary.
binary /etc/fstab returns text.

Using the Go module

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "os"

    "github.com/xyproto/binary"
)

func main() {
    filename := os.Args[0]
    isBinary, err := binary.File(filename)
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s\n", err)
        os.Exit(1)
    }
    fmt.Printf("%s is a binary file: %v\n", filename, isBinary)
}