% IS_EXECUTABLE_BINARY Check if a file is an executable binary by examining magic numbers
%
% NOTE: on Unix-like operating systems, often times what users run thinking
% it's a "program" is actually a shell script invoking a binary with
% options.
%    fullfile(matlabroot, 'bin/matlab')
% is a shell script and thus is FALSE for this function.
%
% Inputs:
% * filename: path to file
% Outputs:
% * y: true if the file is an executable binary, false otherwise
%
% This function checks the magic number of the file to determine if it is
% an executable binary. It supports Windows (PE), macOS (Mach-O), and Linux
% (ELF) formats.

function y = is_executable_binary(filename)

y = false;

fid = fopen(filename, 'rb');
if fid < 0
  return
end

N = 4;
if ispc()
  N = 2;
end

magic = fread(fid, N, 'uint8').';
fclose(fid);

if numel(magic) == N
  y = check_magic(magic);
end

end


function y = check_magic(magic)

if ispc()
  y = isequal(magic(1:2), [0x4d, 0x5a]);
% Check for PE magic number (MZ)
elseif ismac()
  % Check for Mach-O magic number
  feedface = [0xFE, 0xED, 0xFA, 0xCE];
  feedfacf = [0xFE, 0xED, 0xFA, 0xCF];
  cafebabe = [0xCA, 0xFE, 0xBA, 0xBE];
  cafebabf = [0xCA, 0xFE, 0xBA, 0xBF];
  for a = {feedface, fliplr(feedface), ...
           feedfacf, fliplr(feedfacf), ...
           cafebabe, fliplr(cafebabe), ...
           cafebabf, fliplr(cafebabf)}

    y = isequal(magic, a{1});
    if y
      return
    end
  end
else
  % Check for ELF magic number (0x7f followed by 'ELF')
  y = isequal(magic, [0x7f, 0x45, 0x4c, 0x46]);
end

end

Published with MATLAB® R2025a