Just me testing out the bash 'file' binary

file_examples.txt

$ file --brief --no-dereference baz
symbolic link to foo

$ file --mime-type baz
baz: application/x-directory

$ file --brief --no-dereference --mime-type baz
application/x-symlink

$ file --brief --no-dereference --mime-encoding baz
binary

$ file --brief --no-dereference -I baz
application/x-symlink; charset=binary

$ file --brief --no-dereference -I --preserve-date baz
application/x-symlink; charset=binary

$ file --brief --no-dereference -I --preserve-date -s baz
application/x-symlink; charset=binary

$ file --brief --no-dereference -I --preserve-date --dereference baz
application/x-directory; charset=binary

$ file --brief --no-dereference -I --preserve-date  baz
application/x-symlink; charset=binary

$ file --raw --no-buffer --mime-type --separator "+" *
example_bin+     application/octet-stream
example_dir+     application/x-directory
example_symlink+ application/x-symlink
example_targz+   application/x-gzip
example_txt+     application/x-empty
magic.mgc+       application/octet-stream

$ file --uncompress --raw --no-buffer --mime-type --separator "+" *
example_bin+     application/octet-stream
example_dir+     application/x-directory
example_symlink+ application/x-symlink
example_targz+   application/x-tar
example_txt+     application/x-empty
magic.mgc+       application/octet-stream

$ file --uncompress --raw --no-buffer --mime-type --separator "+" --print0 *
example_bin     application/octet-stream
example_dir     application/x-directory
example_symlink application/x-symlink
example_targz   application/x-tar
example_txt     application/x-empty
magic.mgc       application/octet-stream

$ file --uncompress --raw --no-buffer --mime-type --separator "+" *
example_bin+     application/octet-stream
example_dir+     application/x-directory
example_symlink+ application/x-symlink
example_targz+   application/x-tar
example_txt+     application/x-empty
magic.mgc+       application/octet-stream

$ file --uncompress --raw --no-buffer --mime-type --separator "+" --special-files *
example_bin+     application/octet-stream
example_dir+     application/x-directory
example_symlink+ application/x-symlink
example_targz+   application/x-tar
example_txt+     application/x-empty
magic.mgc+       application/octet-stream

$ file --special-files *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --special-files --mime-type *
example_bin:     application/octet-stream
example_dir:     application/x-directory
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   application/x-gzip
example_txt:     application/x-empty
magic.mgc:       application/octet-stream

$ file --special-files --mime-encoding *
example_bin:     binary
example_dir:     binary
example_symlink: ERROR: (null)
example_targz:   binary
example_txt:     ERROR: (null)
magic.mgc:       binary

$ file --special-files --mime *
example_bin:     application/octet-stream; charset=binary
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   application/x-gzip; charset=binary
example_txt:     application/x-empty
magic.mgc:       application/octet-stream; charset=binary

$ file --special-files --mime -i *
example_bin:     regular file
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   regular file
example_txt:     regular file
magic.mgc:       regular file

$ file --special-files --mime -i --brief *
regular file
application/x-directory; charset=binary
application/x-symlink
regular file
regular file
regular file

$ file --special-files --mime -i *
example_bin:     regular file
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   regular file
example_txt:     regular file
magic.mgc:       regular file

$ file --special-files --mime -i --no-buffer *
example_bin:     regular file
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   regular file
example_txt:     regular file
magic.mgc:       regular file

$ file --special-files --mime -i --no-buffer --special-files *
example_bin:     regular file
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   regular file
example_txt:     regular file
magic.mgc:       regular file

$ file --special-files --mime --no-buffer --special-files *
example_bin:     application/octet-stream; charset=binary
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   application/x-gzip; charset=binary
example_txt:     application/x-empty
magic.mgc:       application/octet-stream; charset=binary

$ file --special-files --mime --no-buffer --special-files --uncompress *
example_bin:     application/octet-stream; charset=binary
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   application/x-tar; charset=binary compressed-encoding=application/x-gzip; charset=binary; charset=binary
example_txt:     application/x-empty
magic.mgc:       application/octet-stream; charset=binary

$ file --special-files --mime --no-buffer --special-files --uncompress --keep-going *
example_bin:     application/octet-stream; charset=binary
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   application/x-tar; charset=binary compressed-encoding=application/x-gzip; charset=binary; charset=binary
example_txt:     application/x-empty
magic.mgc:       application/octet-stream; charset=binary

$ file --special-files --mime --no-buffer --special-files --uncompress --keep-going  --dereference *
example_bin:     application/octet-stream; charset=binary
example_dir:     application/x-directory; charset=binary
example_symlink: application/x-symlink
example_targz:   application/x-tar; charset=binary compressed-encoding=application/x-gzip; charset=binary; charset=binary
example_txt:     application/x-empty
magic.mgc:       application/octet-stream; charset=binary

$ file *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --dereference *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --dereference --raw *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --raw *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --raw --dereference *
example_bin:     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir:     directory
example_symlink: broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz:   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt:     empty
magic.mgc:       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --raw --dereference --print0 *
example_bin     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir     directory
example_symlink broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt     empty
magic.mgc       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --raw --dereference --separator '|' --print0 *
example_bin     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir     directory
example_symlink broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt     empty
magic.mgc       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)

$ file --raw --dereference --separator '|'  *
example_bin|     Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
example_dir|     directory
example_symlink| broken symbolic link to foo
example_targz|   gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Sep  1 09:28:45 2016
example_txt|     empty
magic.mgc|       magic binary file for file(1) cmd (version 7) (little endian)