[wellylug] using "file"

[E.Chalaron]

Hi all

I am trying to use file for detecting applications.
As I want to use that in a cron job, I was wondering if there might be 
something simpler from the usual reply from file :

let's say :
file -b file.doc gives "Microsoft Office Document"

My question is : can I get a number rather than a couple of words ? I guess I 
can always modify /usr/share/magic but I'm not really keen doing that.

Other question : how reliable file is ? so far anything as doc or xls is 
described as Microsoft Office Document... not precise enough for what I want 
to do..

Thanks
E.