CGI File Extension

What is the .CGI file type?

The .cgi filename extension stands for the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and denotes the CGI Script (.cgi) file type. CGI is a standard, unified technology for server-side data processing and dynamic content generation on the Web. Although almost any programming language can be used in CGI, Perl, C, and Python are the most commonly used ones.

Any .cgi file is a regular text file that contains the source code of a program, or script in any of the common CGI languages, even a Unix/Linux shell script. By default, all .cgi script files are placed into the "cgi-bin" directory under a web server's root. The .cgi extension is treated by all CGI-compliant web servers specially, and .cgi files are interpreted and executed by a proper CGI module.

On a web server, a .cgi file is part of a web site's engine. Otherwise, it is just a text file. CGI files can also use other extensions (such as .pl, .py), but this requires a custom server configuration. CGI scripts can be viewed and authored in any text editor.

Poorly designed or buggy .cgi scripts may pose a serious security threat, as CGI scripts often become targets for web site hackers.

Software to open or convert CGI files

FileViewPro by Solvusoft Corporation

 

Parallels Tools Center

 

VLC media player by VideoLAN

 

Internet Explorer

 

MIFES for Windows

 

Free File Viewer Pro

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