leommoore

File Magic Numbers

Magic numbers are the first bits of a file which uniquely identify the type of file. This makes programming easier because complicated file structures need not be searched in order to identify the file type.

For example, a jpeg file starts with ffd8 ffe0 0010 4a46 4946 0001 0101 0047 ......JFIF.....G ffd8 shows that it's a JPEG file, and ffe0 identify a JFIF type structure. There is an ascii encoding of "JFIF" which comes after a length code, but that is not necessary in order to identify the file. The first 4 bytes do that uniquely.

This gives an ongoing list of file-type magic numbers.

Image Files

ksafranski

Intro

TCL-Expect scripts are an amazingly easy way to script out laborious tasks in the shell when you need to be interactive with the console. Think of them as a "macro" or way to programmaticly step through a process you would run by hand. They are similar to shell scripts but utilize the .tcl extension and a different #! call.

Setup Your Script

The first step, similar to writing a bash script, is to tell the script what it's executing under. For expect we use the following:

#!/usr/bin/expect

mahan

/* Atomic boolean for golang 

   A process-atomic boolean that can be used for signaling between goroutines.
   Default value = false. (nil structure)
*/

package main

import "sync/atomic"

dsc8x