Command-line tool to extract taxonomies from wikidata.
wikidata-taxonomy requires at least NodeJs version 4.
Install globally to make command wdtaxonomy accessible from your shell $PATH:
$ npm install -g wikidata-taxonomyThis module provides the command wdtaxonomy. By default, a usage help is printed:
$ wdtaxonomyThe first arguments needs to be a Wikidata identifier to be used as root. For instance extract a taxonomy of planets (Q634):
$ wdtaxonomy Q634The extracted taxonomy is based on statements using the property "subclass of" (P279) or "subproperty of" (P1647) and additional statistics. Option --sparql prints the SPARQL queries that are used.
Taxonomy extraction and output can be controlled by several options. For instance this command lists a biological taxonomy of mammals:
$ wdtaxonomy.js Q7377 --property P171 --brief
By default, the taxonomy is printed in "tree" format with colored Unicode characters:
$ wdtaxonomy Q17362350planet of the Solar System (Q17362350) •2 ↑
├──outer planet (Q30014) •23 ×4 ↑
└──inner planets (Q3504248) •8 ×4 ↑
The output contains item labels, Wikidata identifiers, the number of
Wikimedia sites connected to each item (indicated by bullet character "•"),
the number of instances (property P31,
indicated by a multiplication sign "×"), and an upwards arrow ("↑") as
indicator for additional superclass not included in the tree.
Option "--instances" (or "-i") explicitly includes instances:
$ wdtaxonomy -i Q17362350planet of the Solar System (Q17362350) •2 ↑
├──outer planet (Q30014) •23 ↑
| -Saturn (Q193)
| -Jupiter (Q319)
| -Uranus (Q324)
| -Neptune (Q332)
└──inner planets (Q3504248) •8 ↑
-Earth (Q2)
-Mars (Q111)
-Mercury (Q308)
-Venus (Q313)
Classes that occur at multiple places in the taxonomy (multihierarchy) are marked like in the following example:
$ wdtaxonomy Q634planet (Q634) •196 ×7 ↑
├──extrasolar planet (Q44559) •81 ×833 ↑
| ├──circumbinary planet (Q205901) •14 ×10
| ├──super-Earth (Q327757) •32 ×46
...
├──terrestrial planet (Q128207) •67 ×7
| ╞══super-Earth (Q327757) •32 ×46 …
...
The CSV format ("--format csv") is optimized for comparing differences in
time. Each output row consists of five fields:
-
level in the hierarchy indicated by zero or more "
-" (default) or "=" characters (multihierarchy). -
id of the item. Items on the same level are sorted by their id.
-
label of the item. Language can be selected with option
--language. The character,in labels is replaces by a whitespace. -
sites: number of connected sites (Wikipedia and related project editions). Larger numbers may indicate more established concepts.
-
parents outside of the hierarchy, indicated by zero or more "
^" characters.
For instance the CSV output for Q634 would be like this:
$ wdtaxonomy -f csv Q634level,id,label,sites,instances,parents
,Q634,planet,196,7,^
-,Q44559,extrasolar planet,81,833,^
--,Q205901,circumbinary planet,14,10,
--,Q327757,super-Earth,32,46,
...
-,Q128207,terrestrial planet,67,7,
==,Q327757,super-Earth,32,46,
...
In this example there are 196 Wikipedia editions or other sites with an
article about planets and seven Wikidata items are direct instance of a
planet. At the end of the line "^" indicates that "planet" has one
superclass. In the next rows "extrasolar planet"
(Q44559) is a subclass of planet with
another superclass indicated by "^". Both "circumbinary planet" and
"super-Earth" are subclasses of "extrasolar planet". The latter also occurs as
subclass of "terrestrial planet" where it is marked by "==" instead of
"--".
Option --format json serializes the taxonomy as JSON object with the following fields:
- root: Wikidata identifier of the root item/property
- items: object with Wikidata items/properties, indexed by their identifier
- narrower
- broader
- instances (if option
instancesis enabled)
The hierarchy properties P279 ("subclass
of") and P31 ("instance of") to build
taxonomies from can be changed with option property (-P).
Members of (P463) the European Union (Q458):
$ wdtaxonomy Q458 -P P463
Members of (P463) the European Union (Q458) and number of its citizens in Wikidata (P27):
$ wdtaxonomy Q458 -P 463/27
As Wikidata is no strict ontology, subproperties are not factored in. For instance this query does not include members of the European Union although P463 is a subproperty of P361.
Parts of (P361) the European Union (Q458):
$ wdtaxonomy Q458 -P P361
A taxonomy of subproperties can be queried like taxonomies of items. The hierarchy property is set to P1647 ("subproperty of") by default:
$ wdtaxonomy P361
$ wdtaxonomy P361 -P P1647 # equivalent
Subproperties of "part of" (P361) and which of them have an inverse property (P1696):
$ wdtaxonomy P361 -P P1647/P1696
Inverse properties are neither factored in so queries like these do not necesarrily return the same results:
What hand (Q33767) is part of (P361):
$ wdtaxonomy Q33767 -P 361 -r
What parts the hand (Q33767) has (P527):
$ wdtaxonomy Q33767 -P 527
Release notes are listed in file CHANGES.md in the source code repository.
This document
Related tools
- wikidata-sdk is used by this module
- wikidata-cli provide more generic command line tools for Wikidata
- taxonomy browser is a web application based on Wikidata dumps