Just as another data point, on my system (fully up to date arch) it's half and half: $ file -i /usr/bin/*grep|sort -k2,2

Just as another data point, on my system (fully up to date arch) it's half and half: $ file -i /usr/bin/*grep|sort -k2,2 [17:59:42] /usr/bin/grep: application/x-executable; charset=binary /usr/bin/igrep: application/x-executable; charset=binary /usr/bin/pgrep: application/x-executable; charset=binary /usr/bin/msggrep: application/x-executable; charset=binary /usr/bin/deepgrep: application/x-executable; charset=binary /usr/bin/pcregrep: application/x-executable; charset=binary /usr/bin/lzgrep: inode/symlink; charset=binary /usr/bin/lzegrep: inode/symlink; charset=binary /usr/bin/lzfgrep: inode/symlink; charset=binary /usr/bin/xzegrep: inode/symlink; charset=binary /usr/bin/xzfgrep: inode/symlink; charset=binary /usr/bin/egrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/fgrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/zgrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/bzgrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/xzgrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/zegrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/zfgrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii /usr/bin/zipgrep: text/x-shellscript; charset=us-ascii