whfmt.Validate 1.0.1

whfmt.Validate

Binary file validator — validate any file against 799 format definitions in seconds.

whfmt.Validate is a dotnet global tool that detects file formats and validates them for structural integrity, checksum correctness, and forensic anomalies — all powered by the whfmt.FileFormatCatalog library with 799 embedded .whfmt definitions.

Full documentation: whfmt-Validate-guide.md — API reference, architecture, integration guides, and usage examples.

What's New in 1.0.1

• Catalog bump to whfmt.FileFormatCatalog 1.3.2 — 799 definitions, schema v3 canonical, runtime expression engine.
• Phase B bug fixes (catalog-side, surfaced through whfmt.Validate):
  • Negative-offset magic byte signatures (SHEBANG, FAT_BINARY, NE, LE, TRUECRYPT) now match correctly.
  • Assertions over .whfmt files with bool / null variables (e.g. PNG.crc32Valid) no longer throw.
• UTF-8 console output forced via Console.OutputEncoding so emoji status glyphs render on Windows consoles.
• Comprehensive guide bundled (whfmt-Validate-guide.md).
• No CLI changes since 1.0.0 — drop-in upgrade.

What's New in 1.0.0

• Initial public release. Commands: validate, list, info, repair, lint-expressions with --format, --report text|json|html, --output, --recursive, --fail-fast flags.

Install

dotnet tool install -g whfmt.Validate

After installation, the whfmt command is available globally.

Commands

whfmt validate — Validate files

whfmt validate <file(s)> [options]

Arguments

Options

Examples

# Validate a ZIP file (auto-detect format)
whfmt validate archive.zip

# Validate a firmware blob, force PE32 format
whfmt validate firmware.bin --format pe32

# Validate all files in a directory, output HTML report
whfmt validate ./files --recursive --report html --output report.html

# CI/CD: silent validation, fail on first error
whfmt validate build/output.exe --quiet --fail-fast && echo "OK" || echo "INVALID"

# JSON output for scripting
whfmt validate image.png --report json | jq '.isValid'

Exit codes

whfmt list — Browse the format catalog

whfmt list [options]

Examples

# List all supported formats grouped by category
whfmt list

# List all game formats
whfmt list --category Game

# Search for anything related to "zip"
whfmt list --search zip

# JSON output for scripting
whfmt list --category Executables --json

whfmt info — Inspect a specific format

whfmt info <format> [options]

Examples

# Show ZIP format metadata
whfmt info zip

# Show PE32 format in JSON (includes AI hints, forensic risk, technical details)
whfmt info pe32 --json

# Look up by extension
whfmt info .docx

What gets validated

For each file, whfmt validate runs up to 4 layers of checks depending on what the format definition declares:

Report formats

Text (default)

  whfmt validate — archive.zip
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  File     : C:\files\archive.zip
  Size     : 1.23 MB
  Format   : ZIP Archive (Archives)
  Confidence: 100%  [Combined]
  Forensic : LOW risk

  Passed checks:
    ✓  [Signature] MagicBytes — Signature 504B0304 @ offset 0 ✓
    ✓  [Checksum] CentralDirCRC — CRC32: A1B2C3D4 ✓

  Result   : ✓ VALID

JSON

{
  "file": "C:\\files\\archive.zip",
  "size": 1289421,
  "format": "ZIP Archive",
  "category": "Archives",
  "confidence": 1.0,
  "matchSource": "Combined",
  "forensicRisk": "low",
  "isValid": true,
  "errors": 0,
  "warnings": 0,
  "checks": [
    { "Category": "Signature", "Name": "MagicBytes", "Passed": true, "Detail": "Signature 504B0304 @ offset 0 ✓" }
  ],
  "issues": []
}

HTML

A self-contained dark-themed HTML report — suitable for CI artifacts or sharing with teams.

Supported format categories

The tool validates files across 29 categories and 799 formats:

CI/CD integration

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Validate build artifacts
  run: |
    dotnet tool install -g whfmt.Validate
    whfmt validate ./artifacts --recursive --report json --output validation.json --quiet
    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Artifact validation failed"; exit 1; fi

- name: Upload validation report
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: format-validation
    path: validation.json

# Azure DevOps example
- script: |
    dotnet tool install -g whfmt.Validate
    whfmt validate $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory) -R --report html --output $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/report.html
  displayName: Validate build artifacts

Powered by whfmt.FileFormatCatalog

whfmt.Validate depends on whfmt.FileFormatCatalog — automatically installed by NuGet. The catalog ships 799 .whfmt format definitions as embedded resources, covering magic-byte signatures, checksum rules, structural assertions, and forensic metadata for every supported format.

License

AGPL-3.0 — see LICENSE.

© 2016–2026 Derek Tremblay