file-magic

0.4.1 verified Mon Apr 27 auth: no python deprecated

Python front end for libmagic(3) — uses ctypes to wrap libmagic for file type detection. Current version 0.4.1, last released 2016; requires libmagic (system library). Unmaintained; prefer `python-magic` for active development.

pip install file-magic

Common errors

error ImportError: No module named magic ↓

cause Both `file-magic` and `python-magic` create a module named `magic`. If both are installed, import may fail or wrong version used.

fix

Uninstall both and reinstall only one: pip uninstall file-magic python-magic python-magic-bin then pip install python-magic.

error OSError: libmagic not found ↓

cause System library libmagic is missing.

fix

Install libmagic: on Linux sudo apt-get install libmagic1 (or equivalent), on macOS brew install libmagic.

error TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str' ↓

cause In Python 3, file path must be bytes or string; often happens when passing string to .file() where lib expects bytes.

fix

Encode path if needed: m.file(bytes(path, 'utf-8')) or ensure string path works (usual).

Warnings

gotcha `file-magic` is unmaintained (last release 2016). Prefer `pip install python-magic` instead, which has a similar API and is actively maintained. ↓

fix Use `python-magic` for new projects.

gotcha Requires system libmagic installed. If missing, get an OSError or ImportError. ↓

fix Install libmagic (e.g., apt-get install libmagic1 on Debian/Ubuntu).

gotcha On Windows, libmagic is not preinstalled; need to bundle DLL or use alternative. ↓

fix Consider using `python-magic-bin` or `python-magic` with appropriate binary.

Imports

magic
```
import magic
```
Top-level import; no submodule needed.

Quickstart

Basic usage: create a magic cookie, load magic database, detect file type.

import magic
m = magic.open(magic.MAGIC_NONE)
m.load()
type_ = m.file('/path/to/file')  # e.g., 'ASCII text'
print(type_)