Here is a small program that uses OLE::Storage_Lite to distinguish distinguish Microsoft doc and xls files.

    #!/usr/bin/perl

    use strict;
    use warnings;
    use OLE::Storage_Lite;

    my @files = (

        'test.xls',
        'test.doc',
        'test.ppt',
        'test.txt',

    );


    for my $filename ( @files ) {

        printf( "%-20s = %s\n", $filename, check_ole_filetype( $filena
+me ) );

    }


    sub check_ole_filetype {

        my $filename = shift;

        # Check that the file exists.
        return 'not_found' if !-e $filename;

        # Create an OLE::Storage_Lite object to read the file.
        my $ole      = OLE::Storage_Lite->new( $filename );
        my $pps      = $ole->getPpsTree();

        # If getPpsTree() failed then this isn't an OLE file.
        return 'not_ole_file' if !$pps;

        # Loop through the PPS children below the root.
        for my $child_pps ( @{ $pps->{Child} } ) {

            my $pps_name = OLE::Storage_Lite::Ucs2Asc( $child_pps->{Na
+me} );

            # Match an Excel xls file.
            if ( $pps_name eq 'Workbook' || $pps_name eq 'Book' ) {
                return 'xls';
            }

            # Match a Word document.
            if ( $pps_name eq 'WordDocument') {
                return 'doc';
            }
        }

        return 'unknown_ole_file';
    }

    __END__
        Output:

        $ perl ole_check.pl
        test.xls             = xls
        test.doc             = doc
        test.ppt             = unknown_ole_file
        test.txt             = not_ole_file
[download]

You will probably have to harden it a little for your needs. For example it is possible that some older Word files might have a differed $pps_name. A little testing should highlight if that is the case. Also, this won't find Office 2007+ style docx or xlsx files.

--
John.

---

---

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