SUFFIXES(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual SUFFIXES(7)

suffixes - list of file suffixes

It is customary to indicate the contents of a file with the file suffix, which (typically) consists of a period, followed by one or more letters. Many standard utilities, such as compilers, use this to recognize the type of file they are dealing with. The make(1) utility is driven by rules based on file suffix.

Following is a list of suffixes which are likely to be found on a Linux system.

Suffix File type
,v files for RCS (Revision Control System)
- backup file
.C C++ source code, equivalent to .cc
.F Fortran source with cpp(1) directives
or file compressed using freeze
.S assembler source with cpp(1) directives
.Y file compressed using yabba
.Z file compressed using compress(1)
.[0-9]+gf TeX generic font files
.[0-9]+pk TeX packed font files
.[1-9] manual page for the corresponding section
.[1-9][a-z] manual page for section plus subsection
.a static object code library
.ad X application default resource file
.ada Ada source (may be body, spec, or combination)
.adb Ada body source
.ads Ada spec source
.afm PostScript font metrics
.al Perl autoload file
.am automake(1) input file
.arc arc(1) archive
.arj arj(1) archive
.asc PGP ASCII-armored data
.asm (GNU) assembler source file
.au Audio sound file
.aux LaTeX auxiliary file
.avi (msvideo) movie
.awk AWK language program
.b LILO boot loader image
.bak backup file
.bash bash(1) shell script
.bb basic block list data produced by
gcc -ftest-coverage
.bbg basic block graph data produced by
gcc -ftest-coverage
.bbl BibTeX output
.bdf X font file
.bib TeX bibliographic database, BibTeX input
.bm bitmap source
.bmp bitmap
.bz2 file compressed using bzip2(1)
.c C source
.cat message catalog files
.cc C++ source
.cf configuration file
.cfg configuration file
.cgi WWW content generating script or program
.cls LaTeX Class definition
.class Java compiled byte-code
.conf configuration file
.config configuration file
.cpp equivalent to .cc
.csh csh(1) shell script
.cxx equivalent to .cc
.dat data file
.deb Debian software package
.def Modula-2 source for definition modules
.def other definition files
.desc initial part of mail message unpacked with
munpack(1)
.diff file differences (diff(1) command output)
.dir dbm data base directory file
.doc documentation file
.dsc Debian Source Control (source package)
.dtx LaTeX package source file
.dvi TeX's device independent output
.el Emacs-Lisp source
.elc compiled Emacs-Lisp source
.eps encapsulated PostScript
.exp Expect source code
.f Fortran source
.f77 Fortran 77 source
.f90 Fortran 90 source
.fas precompiled Common-Lisp
.fi Fortran include files
.fig FIG image file (used by xfig(1))
.fmt TeX format file
.gif Compuserve Graphics Image File format
.gmo GNU format message catalog
.gsf Ghostscript fonts
.gz file compressed using gzip(1)
.h C or C++ header files
.help help file
.hf equivalent to .help
.hlp equivalent to .help
.htm poor man's .html
.html HTML document used with the World Wide Web
.hqx 7-bit encoded Macintosh file
.i C source after preprocessing
.icon bitmap source
.idx reference or datum-index file for hypertext
or database system
.image bitmap source
.in configuration template, especially for GNU Autoconf
.info files for the Emacs info browser
.info-[0-9]+ split info files
.ins LaTeX package install file for docstrip
.itcl itcl source code;
itcl ([incr Tcl]) is an OO extension of tcl
.java a Java source file
.jpeg Joint Photographic Experts Group format
.jpg poor man's .jpeg
.js JavaScript source code
.jsx JSX (JavaScript XML-like extension) source code
.kmap lyx(1) keymap
.l equivalent to .lex or .lisp
.lex lex(1) or flex(1) files
.lha lharc archive
.lib Common-Lisp library
.lisp Lisp source
.ln files for use with lint(1)
.log log file, in particular produced by TeX
.lsm Linux Software Map entry
.lsp Common-Lisp source
.lzh lharc archive
.m Objective-C source code
.m4 m4(1) source
.mac macro files for various programs
.man manual page (usually source rather than formatted)
.map map files for various programs
.me Nroff source using the me macro package
.mf Metafont (font generator for TeX) source
.mgp MagicPoint file
.mm sources for groff(1) in mm - format
.mo Message catalog binary file
.mod Modula-2 source for implementation modules
.mov (quicktime) movie
.mp Metapost source
.mp2 MPEG Layer 2 (audio) file
.mp3 MPEG Layer 3 (audio) file
.mpeg movie file
.o object file
.old old or backup file
.orig backup (original) version of a file, from patch(1)
.out output file, often executable program (a.out)
.p Pascal source
.pag dbm data base data file
.patch file differences for patch(1)
.pbm portable bitmap format
.pcf X11 font files
.pdf Adobe Portable Data Format
(use Acrobat/acroread or xpdf)
.perl Perl source (see .ph, .pl, and .pm)
.pfa PostScript font definition files, ASCII format
.pfb PostScript font definition files, binary format
.pgm portable greymap format
.pgp PGP binary data
.ph Perl header file
.php PHP program file
.php3 PHP3 program file
.pid File to store daemon PID (e.g., crond.pid)
.pl TeX property list file or Perl library file
.pm Perl module
.png Portable Network Graphics file
.po Message catalog source
.pod perldoc(1) file
.ppm portable pixmap format
.pr bitmap source
.ps PostScript file
.py Python source
.pyc compiled python
.qt quicktime movie
.r RATFOR source (obsolete)
.rej patches that patch(1) couldn't apply
.rpm RPM software package
.rtf Rich Text Format file
.rules rules for something
.s assembler source
.sa stub libraries for a.out shared libraries
.sc sc(1) spreadsheet commands
.scm Scheme source code
.sed sed source file
.sgml SGML source file
.sh sh(1) scripts
.shar archive created by the shar(1) utility
.shtml HTML using Server Side Includes
.so Shared library or dynamically loadable object
.sql SQL source
.sqml SQML schema or query program
.sty LaTeX style files
.sym Modula-2 compiled definition modules
.tar archive created by the tar(1) utility
.tar.Z tar(1) archive compressed with compress(1)
.tar.bz2 tar(1) archive compressed with bzip2(1)
.tar.gz tar(1) archive compressed with gzip(1)
.taz tar(1) archive compressed with compress(1)
.tcl tcl source code
.tex TeX or LaTeX source
.texi equivalent to .texinfo
.texinfo Texinfo documentation source
.text text file
.tfm TeX font metric file
.tgz tar archive compressed with gzip(1)
.tif poor man's .tiff
.tiff Tagged Image File Format
.tk tcl/tk script
.tmp temporary file
.tmpl template files
.ts TypeScript source code
.tsx TypeScript with JSX source code (.ts + .jsx)
.txt equivalent to .text
.uu equivalent to .uue
.uue binary file encoded with uuencode(1)
.vf TeX virtual font file
.vpl TeX virtual property list file
.w Silvio Levi's CWEB
.wav wave sound file
.web Donald Knuth's WEB
.wml Source file for Web Meta Language
.xbm X11 bitmap source
.xcf GIMP graphic
.xml eXtended Markup Language file
.xpm X11 pixmap source
.xs Perl xsub file produced by h2xs
.xsl XSL stylesheet
.y yacc(1) or bison(1) (parser generator) files
.z File compressed using pack(1) (or an old gzip(1))
.zip zip(1) archive
.zoo zoo(1) archive
~ Emacs or patch(1) backup file
rc startup (`run control') file, e.g., .newsrc

General UNIX conventions.

This list is not exhaustive.

file(1), make(1)

2024-05-02 Linux man-pages 6.9.1