echo "abc123" > file.txt ftype=$(file --brief file.txt) echo "// __ \$ftype: |${ftype}|" ftypelen=${#ftype} echo "// __ \$ftypelen: |${ftypelen}|" # removing spaces ... ftype2=$(echo "${ftype}" | tr --complement --squeeze-repeats '[A-Za-z0-9.]' '_'); echo "// __ \$ftype2: |${ftype2}|" ftype2len=${#ftype2} echo "// __ \$ftype2len: |${ftype2len}|" lbrtchx