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| Developer(s) | GNU Project |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 9.6[1]  / 17 January 2025 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C,shell script[2] |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Type | Miscellaneous utilities |
| License | 2007[a]:GPL-3.0-or-later 2002[b]:GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Website | www |
TheGNU Core Utilities orcoreutils is apackage ofGNUsoftware containing implementations for many of the basic tools, such ascat,ls, andrm, which are used onUnix-likeoperating systems.
In September 2002, theGNU coreutils were created by merging the earlier packagestextutils,shellutils, andfileutils, along with some other miscellaneous utilities.[3] In July 2007, the license of the GNU coreutils was updated fromGPL-2.0-or-later toGPL-3.0-or-later.[4]
The GNU core utilities supportlong options asparameters to the commands, as well as the relaxed convention allowing options even after the regular arguments (unless thePOSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is set). This environment variable enables a different functionality inBSD.
See theList of GNU Core Utilities commands for a brief description of included commands.
Alternative implementation packages are available in theFOSS ecosystem, with a slightly different scope and focus (less functionality), or license. For example,BusyBox which is licensed underGPL-2.0-only, andToybox which is licensed under0BSD.
In 1990, David MacKenzie announcedGNU fileutils.[5]
In 1991, MacKenzie announcedGNU shellutils andGNU textutils.[6][7] Moreover, Jim Meyering became the maintainer of the packages (known now as coreutils) and has remained so since.[8]
In 2002, Meyering announcedGNU coreutils as a merger of the earlier packages textutils, shellutils, and fileutils, along with some other miscellaneous utilities.[3]
| File system | |
|---|---|
| Processes | |
| User environment | |
| Text processing | |
| Shell builtins | |
| Searching | |
| Documentation | |
| Software development | |
| Miscellaneous | |
