hoakley February 20, 2023 General, Macs, Technology

Solutions to Saturday Mac riddles 191

I hope that you enjoyed Saturday’s Mac Riddles, episode 191. Here are my solutions to them.

1: No matter what the content of a text file, I am always at its end.

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txt or text

The required file extension, given at the end of its name, is either txt or text.

2: Last thing on a real estate inventory or personal possessions.

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plist

The required file extension for a Property List like preference settings, is plist.

3: Finally for a bundle loaded with the kernel, and its common nickname.

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kext

The required file extension for a kernel extension, and often used as its type name, is kext.

The common factor

Click for the solution

They are commonly encountered file extensions.

I look forward to your putting alternative cases.

8Comments

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1

Duncan on February 20, 2023 at 3:08 pm
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It could be argued that some (rich) text files might end with “.rtf” or “rtfd”.

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  hoakley on February 20, 2023 at 4:42 pm
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  Well, definitely not rtfd – that’s actually a folder and not a file at all. Of course there are many other file formats that contain text, like CSV. In which case, there’s no answer at all to this one.
  Howard.
  
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  - 3
    
    Duncan on February 20, 2023 at 4:50 pm
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    Well, it could still be argued nonetheless, but it would be a weak argument 🙂
    
    When I first read that riddle I was wondering if it might be some sort of hidden text-specific ‘end-of-file’ character, except the most rudimentary text files don’t contain those. So it couldn’t be something *within* the file itself. (Could it?)
    
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    - 4
      
      hoakley on February 20, 2023 at 4:53 pm
      
      That was the point – there isn’t any file or text terminator required in the file data itself, not even the C string terminator (as it doesn’t really exist in Unicode text formats). But see what happens if you strip the file extension from a text file!
      Howard.
      
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      Duncan on February 20, 2023 at 4:59 pm
      
      “But see what happens if you strip the file extension from a text file!”
      
      It will still open fine in TextEdit – just not by double-clicking. (I dragged the file’s icon onto the TextEdit app’s Dock icon.)
      
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    - 6
      
      hoakley on February 20, 2023 at 5:38 pm
      
      That’s my point.
      Without the extension, macOS considers that file isn’t text, but has a UTI of public.data, even though it does contain text. So you see a generic icon rather than a QuickLook thumbnail, etc.
      With the extension, macOS gives it a UTI of public.plain-text, makes TextEdit its default editor, shows the text in QuickLook, etc.
      So the thing that every (plain) text file must have is the extension txt or text. Without that it just becomes data.
      Howard.
      
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    - 7
      
      Duncan on February 20, 2023 at 5:45 pm
      
      Thank you for your replies. Let it not be said that my pedantry is no peer for your persistent patience!
      
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    - 8
      
      hoakley on February 20, 2023 at 9:14 pm
      
      Thank you, Duncan – that’s not pedantry. These are often fascinating nooks and crannies.
      Howard.
      
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1: No matter what the content of a text file, I am always at its end.

txt or text

2: Last thing on a real estate inventory or personal possessions.

plist

3: Finally for a bundle loaded with the kernel, and its common nickname.

kext

The common factor

They are commonly encountered file extensions.

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