DEF
text/plain
Magic Bytes
Offset: 0
54 68 69 73 20 69 73 20 54 65 58 2C
The TeX Definition File (DEF) is a configuration format associated with the TeX typesetting system, originally developed by Donald Knuth and maintained by LaTeX project contributors. These files are utilized by LaTeX engines to define macros, manage character encodings, and configure hardware-specific graphics drivers during document compilation. Since the format consists of plain text instructions rather than executable binaries, it is considered safe and remains an active component of modern scientific publishing workflows.
Validation Code
How to validate .def files in Python
Python
def is_def(file_path: str) -> bool:
"""Check if file is a valid DEF by magic bytes."""
signature = bytes([0x54, 0x68, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x54, 0x65, 0x58, 0x2C])
with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
return f.read(12) == signatureHow to validate .def files in Node.js
Node.js
function isDEF(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
const signature = Buffer.from([0x54, 0x68, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x54, 0x65, 0x58, 0x2C]);
return buffer.subarray(0, 12).equals(signature);
}
Go
func IsDEF(data []byte) bool {
signature := []byte{0x54, 0x68, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x69, 0x73, 0x20, 0x54, 0x65, 0x58, 0x2C}
if len(data) < 12 {
return false
}
return bytes.Equal(data[:12], signature)
}API Endpoint
GET
/api/v1/def
curl https://filesignature.org/api/v1/def