# isBinaryFile Detects if a file is binary in Node.js using ✨promises✨. Similar to [Perl's `-B` switch](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/899206/how-does-perl-know-a-file-is-binary), in that: - it reads the first few thousand bytes of a file - checks for a `null` byte; if it's found, it's binary - flags non-ASCII characters. After a certain number of "weird" characters, the file is flagged as binary Much of the logic is pretty much ported from [ag](https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher). Note: if the file doesn't exist or is a directory, an error is thrown. ## Installation ``` npm install isbinaryfile ``` ## Usage Returns `Promise` (or just `boolean` for `*Sync`). `true` if the file is binary, `false` otherwise. ### isBinaryFile(filepath) * `filepath` - a `string` indicating the path to the file. ### isBinaryFile(bytes[, size]) * `bytes` - a `Buffer` of the file's contents. * `size` - an optional `number` indicating the file size. ### isBinaryFileSync(filepath) * `filepath` - a `string` indicating the path to the file. ### isBinaryFileSync(bytes[, size]) * `bytes` - a `Buffer` of the file's contents. * `size` - an optional `number` indicating the file size. ### Examples Here's an arbitrary usage: ```javascript const isBinaryFile = require("isbinaryfile").isBinaryFile; const fs = require("fs"); const filename = "fixtures/pdf.pdf"; const data = fs.readFileSync(filename); const stat = fs.lstatSync(filename); isBinaryFile(data, stat.size).then((result) => { if (result) { console.log("It is binary!") } else { console.log("No it is not.") } }); const isBinaryFileSync = require("isbinaryfile").isBinaryFileSync; const bytes = fs.readFileSync(filename); const size = fs.lstatSync(filename).size; console.log(isBinaryFileSync(bytes, size)); // true or false ``` ## Testing Run `npm install`, then run `npm test`.