# finfo_open

# finfo::__construct

(PHP >= 5.3.0, PECL fileinfo >= 0.1.0)

finfo_open -- finfo::__construct — Create a new fileinfo resource

### Description

Procedural style

finfo_open ([ int `$options` = FILEINFO_NONE [, string `$magic_file` = "" ]] ) : resource|false

Object oriented style (constructor):

public finfo::__construct ([ int `$options` = FILEINFO_NONE [, string `$magic_file` = "" ]] )

This function opens a magic database and returns its resource.

### Parameters

`options`

  One or disjunction of more Fileinfo constants.

`magic_file`

  Name of a magic database file, usually something like /path/to/magic.mime. If not specified, the `MAGIC` environment variable is used. If the environment variable isn't set, then PHP's bundled magic database will be used.

  Passing `NULL` or an empty string will be equivalent to the default value.

### Return Values

(Procedural style only) Returns a magic database resource on success or `FALSE` on failure.

### Notes

Warning

The expected magic database format changed in PHP 5.3.11 and 5.4.1. Due to this, the internal magic database was upgraded. This mostly effects code where an external magic database is used: reading an older magic file will now fail. Also, some textual representations of the mime types has changed, for instance for PHP would be "PHP script, ASCII text" instead of "PHP script text" returned.

> Note:

> Generally, using the bundled magic database (by leaving `magic_file` and the `MAGIC` environment variables unset) is the best course of action unless you specifically need a custom magic database.

### Examples

Example #1 Object oriented style

`<?php
$finfo = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME, "/usr/share/misc/magic"); // return mime type ala mimetype extension
/* get mime-type for a specific file */
$filename = "/usr/local/something.txt";
echo $finfo->file($filename);
?>`

Example #2 Procedural style

`<?php
$finfo = finfo_open(FILEINFO_MIME, "/usr/share/misc/magic"); // return mime type ala mimetype extension
if (!$finfo) {
echo "Opening fileinfo database failed";
exit();
}
/* get mime-type for a specific file */
$filename = "/usr/local/something.txt";
echo finfo_file($finfo, $filename);
/* close connection */
finfo_close($finfo);
?>`

The above example will output:

    text/plain; charset=us-ascii

### See Also

- finfo_close() - Close fileinfo resource