Finden Filum

Quickly, dependnecy-free, check for details of any file type.

Finden Filum allows a simple method of checking the category of a provided file, based on it's extension.

By passing a file or path, the extension is automatically extracted, and compared against a list of known and classified extensions to see what class it falls into, while additionally returning more information such as a short description of the purpose of the file type.

Install

To install Finden Filum simply run:

npm install finden-filum

Usage

There are two methods available to use Finden Filum:

1. Terminal

To use Finden Filum ensure to install it globall:

npm install finden-filum -g

Then run via:

ff path/to/file.txt

Which will return the full category object in a human readable way:

> ff file.txt
> - Cateogry: text
> - Origin: Plan Text Document

Optionally, if you'd just like to receive the extension category:

> ff file.txt --extension
> txt

2. JavaScript API

Otherwise, the more traditional usage of Finden Filum may be within a NodeJS Module:

const ff = require("finden-filum");

let ext = ff("file.txt");

The extension object returned will then contain the following API:

• contains(<string>)

  The contains() function can receive any valid category and if the provided category is a category that is applied to the original extension passed true is returned, otherwise false is returned.

• getCategories()

  Returns an array of all valid categories applied to the original extension provided.

• getFull()

  Returns the full object of the original extension provided. Where the full object has the following schema:

{
  "category": "Contains an array of valid extensions, unless there is only one, which returns a string",
  "origin": "The description of the extension",
  "resourceURL": "Optionally, URL provided for the extension.",
  "description": "Optionally, a longer more detailed description of the extension."
}

• toString()

  Returns a string of the root category.

How it works

Finden Filum's contains a large list of known and classified extensions.

Each extension is then given a set of categories, and a description. The category list contains several recognized categories, broken up into different tiers. Where the first tier is the most general category, and subsequent categories are more specific.

1st Tier Categories

• media: Any files for serving media, such as images, video, and audio.
• text: Any generic file that can be opened within a text editor.
• executable: Generally a binary file, that is able to be run as an application.
• archive: A compressed or archived file.
• binary: A binary file.

2nd Tier Categories

• media
  • video: Any video file.
  • audio: Any audio file.
  • image: Any image file.
• executable
• archive
• text
  • source code: Programming language file.
  • data: File contains data, generally not intended to be interacted with directly.
  • office: General office files, such as Docs, PDFs, PowerPoint files etc.
  • configure: File is explicitly a configuration file.
  • version control: File is dedicated to a version control system. Likely not ever modified directly.
  • template: The file serves as a templating methodology to display it's contents.

3rd Tier Classifications

• text
  • source code
    • script: Script files such as bash.

Origins of the Name

• finden Is German for Find
• filum Is Latin for "thread" otherwise the origins of the modern word "file".

Essentially, Finden Filum means Find File. Otherwise ff should be used within code.