Unix file(1) utility
E130984
The Unix file(1) utility is a command-line program that identifies the type of a file by examining its contents rather than relying on its name or extension.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Unix file(1) utility canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1133855 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Unix file(1) utility Context triple: [Ian Darwin, contributedTo, Unix file(1) utility]
-
A.
GNU Core Utilities
GNU Core Utilities is a collection of essential command-line tools for Unix-like operating systems, providing fundamental file, text, and shell utilities widely used in GNU/Linux systems.
-
B.
Unix
Unix is a powerful, multiuser, multitasking operating system originally developed in the 1970s that has profoundly influenced modern computing and inspired many derivative systems like Linux and macOS.
-
C.
Unix shell
A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter and scripting environment used on Unix and Unix-like systems to execute commands, run programs, and automate tasks.
-
D.
Bravo text editor
Bravo text editor was an early WYSIWYG word processing program developed at Xerox PARC that pioneered many modern graphical text-editing concepts.
-
E.
GNU Findutils
GNU Findutils is a collection of essential GNU utilities, including the widely used `find`, `locate`, `updatedb`, and `xargs` tools, for searching and managing files on Unix-like systems.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Unix file(1) utility Target entity description: The Unix file(1) utility is a command-line program that identifies the type of a file by examining its contents rather than relying on its name or extension.
-
A.
GNU Core Utilities
GNU Core Utilities is a collection of essential command-line tools for Unix-like operating systems, providing fundamental file, text, and shell utilities widely used in GNU/Linux systems.
-
B.
Unix
Unix is a powerful, multiuser, multitasking operating system originally developed in the 1970s that has profoundly influenced modern computing and inspired many derivative systems like Linux and macOS.
-
C.
Unix shell
A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter and scripting environment used on Unix and Unix-like systems to execute commands, run programs, and automate tasks.
-
D.
Bravo text editor
Bravo text editor was an early WYSIWYG word processing program developed at Xerox PARC that pioneered many modern graphical text-editing concepts.
-
E.
GNU Findutils
GNU Findutils is a collection of essential GNU utilities, including the widely used `find`, `locate`, `updatedb`, and `xargs` tools, for searching and managing files on Unix-like systems.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (59)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Unix command
ⓘ
command-line utility ⓘ program ⓘ |
| availableOn |
BSD
ⓘ
Linux ⓘ macOS ⓘ many Unix-like systems ⓘ |
| canUseCustomMagicFile | yes ⓘ |
| category |
diagnostic utility
ⓘ
file system utility ⓘ |
| doesNotRelyOn | file name extension ⓘ |
| identificationMethod |
examine file contents
ⓘ
filesystem tests ⓘ language tests ⓘ magic number matching ⓘ |
| input |
file path
ⓘ
standard input ⓘ |
| magicFileDefaultPath |
/usr/share/file/magic
ⓘ
/usr/share/misc/magic ⓘ |
| operatingSystemFamily |
Unix
ⓘ
Unix-like systems ⓘ |
| output |
MIME type (with options)
ⓘ
human-readable description of file type ⓘ |
| primaryFunction | identify file type ⓘ |
| standard | POSIX ⓘ |
| standardInputSupport | yes ⓘ |
| supportsCompressedFiles | yes ⓘ |
| supportsMIMEDetection | yes ⓘ |
| supportsOption |
-0
ⓘ
-C ⓘ -E ⓘ -F ⓘ -L ⓘ -M ⓘ -N ⓘ -P ⓘ -S ⓘ -b ⓘ -e ⓘ -f ⓘ -h ⓘ -i ⓘ -k ⓘ -m ⓘ -n ⓘ -p ⓘ -r ⓘ -s ⓘ -v ⓘ -z ⓘ |
| supportsPOSIXStandard | yes ⓘ |
| supportsSymlinkDereference | yes ⓘ |
| typicalUsageExample |
file -i filename
ⓘ
file filename ⓘ |
| usedFor |
content-type detection
ⓘ
debugging file formats ⓘ shell scripting ⓘ system administration ⓘ |
| usesDatabase | magic file database ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Unix file(1) utility Description of subject: The Unix file(1) utility is a command-line program that identifies the type of a file by examining its contents rather than relying on its name or extension.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.