pronom_cli

Search the PRONOM database locally from the command line.

Requirements

• Python 3.13+

Installation

uv tool install git+https://github.com/aarhusstadsarkiv/pronom-cli.git

This installs the pronom CLI command.

Usage

pronom [OPTIONS] <query>
pronom update

Query types (auto-detected)

• Identifier: fmt/128, x-fmt/111, aca-fmt/100, fileproinfo/1, filext/...
• Extension: .pdf, .docx, .wav

Options

• --verbose — include extended metadata and byte sequence output.
• --update - refreshes expired formats and searches and fetches new pronom releases, if any.
• --filter FILTERS — filter out sources, when retrieving data
• --limit LIMIT — limit the output, when searching with extensions

Examples

# Lookup by identifier
pronom fmt/18
pronom aca-fmt/1

# Once an extension-only source has been identified
# you can access it via our custom identifier
pronom fileproinfo/1

# Lookup by extension
pronom .pdf

# Lookup by extension with a filter
pronom --filter fileinfo,fileformats .pdf

# Show full metadata
pronom --verbose fmt/18

# Limit the output
pronom --verbose --limit 10 .pdf

# Refresh expired formats and searches and fetches new PRONOM releases, if any.
pronom --update