identifying file types

Question

Within a C# program is there any way to tell if a file is a text file or not? I mean a real way not just basing your conclusion on a file name extension.

Jan Montano · Answer

hmmm... I'm not sure if there's a function for it. First we must define what you mean by a text file. In my definition it's a file that contains data which is readable. It may contain japanese characters chinese characters english characters etc. The content is not garbled. When I open the text file it may have garbled korean data if I have no korean language pack installed in my machine. So to be sure I must install all language packs. via code... I think it can't be done easily. If it's just english characters we're talking about we just have to parse the file and check each character if it corresponds to the ascii characters. But when we're talking about different languages that's a different story. Just my two cents.