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Description of problem:
The file program misinterprets some text files as python scripts.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
file-5.11-31.el7.x86_64

How reproducible:
The bug can be reproduced using any file editor as follow -

Steps to Reproduce:
Create a file , eg- new.txt using any edit with 3 double quotes -

# cat new.txt
"""

Now test the type of file using "file" command -

# file new.txt

Actual results:
new.txt: Python script, ASCII text executable

Expected results:
new.txt: ASCII text

Additional info:

(In reply to Yogita from comment #0)
> # cat new.txt
> """

For files beginning with """, such a classification is expected.  This is the corresponding magic entry from latest upstream:

    # often the module starts with a multiline string
    0   string/t    """ Python script text executable

Luckily, files starting with """ is not what the customer complained about.

I tried the original reproducer and, in that case, the result seems incorrect, or at least less correct than the result of upstream file(1).  The difference is caused by file-5.10-strength.patch, which was introduced to fix bug #772651.

I propose to remove the patch from Fedora, which will fix this bug in RHEL-8 eventually.  On the other hand, I am afraid that changing the behavior of file(1) in a minor update of RHEL-7 could be disruptive for other customers.

fixed in file-5.30-4.fc26

Changing the behavior of the file command in a minor update of RHEL could break systems that rely on the current behavior.  The fix for this bug is included in Fedora 26 and it is going to be included in the next major release of RHEL.