has_null_bytes: Detect Null Bytes in a File

In seekr: Extract Matching Lines from Matching Files

Detect Null Bytes in a File

Description

Reads the first n bytes of a file and checks whether any null bytes (0x00) are present, which is commonly used to detect binary files.

If the file cannot be read (e.g., corrupted or permission issues), the function safely assumes the file is binary and returns TRUE.

Usage

has_null_bytes(file, n = 1000L)

Arguments

file	A character string representing a single file path.
n	The number of bytes to read for binary detection in files with unknown extensions. Defaults to 1000.

Value

TRUE if a null byte is found or if an error occurs. FALSE otherwise.

seekr documentation built on June 8, 2025, 11:13 a.m.