Editing File (command) (section)

==Usage==
The SUS<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/utilities/file.html |title=The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 8 — ''file'' command |access-date=2025-05-05}}</ref> mandates the following command-line options:

* <code>-M ''file''</code>, prevents the default position-sensitive and context-sensitive tests in favor of the tests specified in a specially formatted file
* <code>-m ''file''</code>, same as for <code>-M</code>, but with tests in addition to the default
* <code>-d</code>, selects default position-sensitive and context-sensitive tests; this is the default behavior unless <code>-M</code> or <code>-m</code> are specified
* <code>-h</code>, do not dereference [[symbolic link]]s that point to an existing file or directory
* <code>-L</code>, dereference the symbolic link that points to an existing file or directory
* <code>-i</code>, do not classify the file further than to report as: nonexistent, a block special file, a character special file, a directory, a [[named pipe|FIFO]], a socket, a symbolic link, or a regular file; the Ian Darwin and OpenBSD versions behave differently with this option and instead output an [[Internet media type]] ("[[MIME]] type") identifying the recognized file format

Implementations may add extra options. Ian Darwin's implementation adds <code>-s</code> 'special files', <code>-k</code> 'keep-going' or <code>-r</code> 'raw', among many others.<ref name=linux>{{man|1|file|Linux}}</ref>