Each data type is indicated by a specific numeric code: -1 means that the column contains character strings with non-numeric data; 0 means the column contains integers; and a positive integer (1, 2, ...) means the column contains floating point numbers: in this case, the integer is the maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal.

-fc

Use c (instead of TAB) as the input column separation character.

-Dn

turn on debugging at level n, or 1 if n is not specified.

-v

Print english descriptions of the data type instead of

-l

Lists the entire table as well as the data type codes.

$ datatype -v -l < typetable
Int     Char    Float2  Float4
---     ----    ------  ------
1       a       1.2     1.1234
745     zzzz    8.54    12.3
---     ----    ------  ------
int     char    float   float

$ datatype < typetable
Int     Char    Float2  Float4
---     ----    ------  ------
  0       -1         2       4