binaryornot Library Entry

0.6.0 · active · verified Thu Apr 09

binaryornot is an ultra-lightweight, pure Python package designed to check if a file is binary or text using simple heuristics. It is currently at version 0.6.0 and appears to have a slow but steady release cadence, primarily for Python version compatibility updates.

Warnings

gotcha The `is_binary` function uses heuristics (checking for null bytes and specific control characters within the initial file chunk) rather than a definitive file format analysis. This means it may occasionally misclassify certain text files with unusual encodings or binary files lacking typical binary signatures in the sampled portion.
Fix: Understand that the detection is heuristic-based. For critical use cases where absolute certainty is required, consider using libraries that perform deeper file format analysis (e.g., python-magic) or explicit magic number checks if the expected format is known.
gotcha The `is_binary` function directly interacts with the filesystem. It will raise standard Python I/O exceptions such as `FileNotFoundError` if the specified path does not exist, or `PermissionError` if the file cannot be opened for reading.
Fix: Always wrap calls to `is_binary` within `try...except` blocks to gracefully handle potential file system errors. Ensure the file path exists and the application has read permissions before invoking the function.
gotcha Incorrect import path: A common mistake is to attempt to import `is_binary` directly from the top-level `binaryornot` package. However, the function resides in the `binary` submodule.
Fix: Use the correct import statement: `from binaryornot.binary import is_binary`.

Install

pip install binaryornot Install stable version

Imports

is_binary
```
from binaryornot.binary import is_binary
```
The `is_binary` function is located within the `binary` submodule, not directly under the top-level package.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to import and use the `is_binary` function to check both a generated text file and a generated binary file. It covers file creation, checking, and cleanup.

import os
import tempfile

from binaryornot.binary import is_binary

# Create a dummy text file
with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False, mode='w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    f.write('This is a text file.\nHello World.')
    text_filepath = f.name

# Create a dummy binary file (e.g., with null bytes)
with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False, mode='wb') as f:
    f.write(b'\x00\x01\x02\x03This is a binary file.')
    binary_filepath = f.name

# Check the files
print(f"'{text_filepath}' is binary: {is_binary(text_filepath)}")
print(f"'{binary_filepath}' is binary: {is_binary(binary_filepath)}")

# Clean up temporary files
os.remove(text_filepath)
os.remove(binary_filepath)

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