Property talk:P598

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commander of (DEPRECATED)
for persons who are notable as commanding officers, the units they commanded

Represents	command (Q2008856)
Data type	Item
Template parameter	"commands" in en:Template:Infobox military person
Domain	According to this template: person According to statements in the property: person (Q215627) or character (Q95074) When possible, data should only be stored as statements
Allowed values	military unit (Q176799), vehicle (Q42889) (note: this should be moved to the property statements)
Example	Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (Q81114) → French Far East Expeditionary Corps (Q2997796) First Army (France) (Q161715) Stede Bonnet (Q444908) → Revenge (Q3428417)
Tracking: usage	Category:Pages using Wikidata property P598 (Q23909102)
See also	organization directed by the office or position (P2389), position held (P39), military unit (P7779), member of (P463)
Lists	Items with the most statements of this property Count of items by number of statements (chart) Items with the most statements Items with the fewest statements Count of items by number of sitelinks (chart) Items with the most sitelinks Items with the most sitelinks, but no link to one Wikipedia (sample: Welsh Wikipedia, cywiki) Items with the fewest sitelinks Most linked wikis Items with the most identifier properties By value of property Most statements Fewest statements Most sitelinks Most linked wikis Total of sitelinks on items Most identifiers Fewest identifiers Items with no other statements Most recently created items Items with novalue claims Items with unknown value claims Items with deprecated claims Usage history (total) Usage history (main statement) Chart by item creation date Map of people by place values: place of birth educated at work location residence place of death place of burial January 1st dates People with date of birth on January 1 People with date of death on January 1 People with both dates on January 1 Database reports/Humans with missing claims/P598 Database reports/Constraint violations/P598 Map Random list
Proposal discussion	Proposal discussion
Current uses	Total 11,046 Main statement 10,966 99.3% of uses Qualifier 79 0.7% of uses Reference 1 <0.1% of uses
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[create Create a translatable help page (preferably in English) for this property to be included here]

Value type “military unit (Q176799), vehicle (Q42889), armed organization (Q17149090), fictional mode of transport (Q6619802), military installation (Q18691599), military operation (Q645883), secret service (Q939616), military equipment (Q18643213), fictional military unit (Q18011131), fictional military facility (Q48900561), naval vessel (Q177597), battalion (Q6382533), command (Q2008856), group (Q1040374), wing (Q45364), squadron (naval fleet) (Q955920), squadron (Q679165)”: This property should use items as value that contain property “instance of (P31)”. On these, the value for instance of (P31) should be an item that uses subclass of (P279) with value military unit (Q176799), vehicle (Q42889), armed organization (Q17149090), fictional mode of transport (Q6619802), military installation (Q18691599), military operation (Q645883), secret service (Q939616), military equipment (Q18643213), fictional military unit (Q18011131), fictional military facility (Q48900561), naval vessel (Q177597), battalion (Q6382533), command (Q2008856), group (Q1040374), wing (Q45364), squadron (naval fleet) (Q955920), squadron (Q679165) (or a subclass thereof). (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Value type Q176799, Q42889, Q17149090, Q6619802, Q18691599, Q645883, Q939616, Q18643213, Q18011131, Q48900561, Q177597, Q6382533, Q2008856, Q1040374, Q45364, Q955920, Q679165, SPARQL

Type “person (Q215627), character (Q95074)”: item must contain property “instance of (P31)” with classes “person (Q215627), character (Q95074)” or their subclasses (defined using subclass of (P279)). (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Type Q215627, Q95074, SPARQL

Item “sex or gender (P21)”: Items with this property should also have “sex or gender (P21)”. (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Item P21, search, SPARQL

Item “occupation (P106)”: Items with this property should also have “occupation (P106)”. (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Item P106, search, SPARQL

Inverse property of “commanded by (P4791)”:
if [item A] has this property (commander of (DEPRECATED) (P598)) linked to [item B],
then [item B] should also have property “commanded by (P4791)” linked to [item A]. (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#inverse, SPARQL

Scope is as main value (Q54828448), as qualifier (Q54828449): the property must be used by specified way only (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Scope, SPARQL

Allowed entity types are Wikibase item (Q29934200): the property may only be used on a certain entity type (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Entity types

Item “position held (P39): commanding officer (Q11247470)”: Items with this property should also have “position held (P39): commanding officer (Q11247470)”. (Help)

Exceptions are possible as rare values may exist. Exceptions can be specified using exception to constraint (P2303).
List of violations of this constraint: Database reports/Constraint violations/P598#Item P39, search, SPARQL

This property is being used by:

• azwiki - az:Şablon:Dövlət xadimi2, az:Şablon:Hərbi xadim, az:Şablon:Dövlət xadimi
• bawiki - ba:Ҡалып:Государственный деятель2, ba:Ҡалып:Государственный деятель
• cvwiki - cv:Шаблон:Патшалăх ĕçченĕ
• hywiki - hy:Կաղապար:Տեղեկաքարտ Ռազմական գործիչ, hy:Կաղապար:Տեղեկաքարտ Աստղային պատերազմների կերպար
• inhwiki - inh:Ло:Военный деятель, inh:Ло:ТIема болхло, inh:Ло:Саг/Ислам, inh:Ло:ТӀема болхло
• pnbwiki - pnb:سانچہ:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية
• pswiki - ps:کينډۍ:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية
• ptwiki - pt:Predefinição:Info/Político/Testes
• ruwiki - ru:Шаблон:Военный деятель, ru:Шаблон:Государственный деятель, ru:Шаблон:Государственный деятель2, ru:Шаблон:Персона/Ислам
• sdwiki - sd:سانچو:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية
• ukwiki - uk:Шаблон:Військовик
• ukwikibooks - b:uk:Шаблон:Військовик
• ukwiktionary - wikt:uk:Шаблон:Військовик
• urwiki - ur:سانچہ:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية
• es:Plantilla:Ficha de militar
• hyw:Կաղապար:Տեղեկաքարտ Ռազմական գործիչ
• vec:Modeło:Infobox de Cardenałe
• os:Хуызæг:Æфсæддон архайæг
• skr:سانچہ:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية
• mzn:شابلون:صندخ/شخص/صارخ/نظامی
• zgh:ⴰⵍⴱⵓⴹ:ⵜⴰⴼⵍⵓⵖⵎⵉⵙⵜ ⴰⵡⵔⵉⴽ/ⴰⵙⵔⴷⴰⵙ
• ar:قالب:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية, ar:قالب:صندوق معلومات شخص/عسكرية/ملعب
• ka:თარგი:ინფოდაფა სამხედრო მოღვაწე

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Please notify projects that use this property before big changes (renaming, deletion, merge with another property, etc.)

Reverse meaning for the property

@ديفيد عادل وهبة خليل 2:: If you want to use the property for both directions (unit → leader as well as the original leader → unit), you need to change the whole property definition, not just the description. Currently, the property requires the item where it is used to be a person (also, it requires the item defines the sex/gender and date and place of birth of the person), and the value of the property to be a military unit or a vehicle (erm). It simply does not allow the property to be used in the opposite direction. Also, the original request stated the meaning of the property quite clearly. I don’t think it is a good idea to combine two meanings in a single property and a new inverse property should be created instead; but in either way, as I said, it is not just a matter of changing the property description (or title). --Mormegil (talk) 16:55, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

Note the reverse property already exists: commanded by (P4791) -- Mormegil (talk) 14:24, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

consensus to delete

Per the RfD, this property is marked as deprecated and it will be deleted as soon as all data has migrated to position held (P39). --Pasleim (talk) 12:40, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

In that case, I will deprecate the reciprocal requirement for commanded by (P4791). Arlo Barnes (talk) 18:01, 6 June 2021 (UTC)

How long is this expected to take?StarTrekker (talk) 11:20, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

@Pasleim, Arlo Barnes, StarTrekker: I have boldly added an item-requires-statement constraint to position held (P39) to encourage speeding up the migration process. Duckmather (talk) 05:01, 27 September 2023 (UTC)

I disagree. This property is useful for military leaders, and universal (contrary to P39). Infovarius (talk) 18:52, 16 May 2025 (UTC)

Note that the example in RfD - Q5777531 has 4(!) different positions instead of 1 common property - much harder to query. --Infovarius (talk) 18:57, 16 May 2025 (UTC)

P642 (P642) is deprecated as well

Now that P642 (P642) is also deprecated, I wonder how we want to migrate for the next time. — Midleading (talk) 05:36, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Is there any consensus on this yet? I have half a mind to suggest un-depreciating this property now that the main suggested replacement has been removed. Pinging other users with experience in this property to see if we can form a consensus: @Infovarius:, @Pasleim:, @Arlo Barnes:, @StarTrekker:, or at least get some ideas for what to do now. — IntensionalLogican (talk) 04:42, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Personally I very much disagree with this property being depricated. Imho next time this site wants to deal with things likes these it should be brought up in a way for more people to give their takes. — StarTrekker (talk) 04:49, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

organization directed by the office or position (P2389) (see RFC) and represents (P1268) are the qualifiers used by the example item. I'm ambivalent about whether they are good enough to replace this property; and generally I think architectural debates about Wikidata should proceed from a query or auto-infobox point-of-view, as they are the main downstreams. For example, has anyone involved in WikiProject Military history (Q8486702) weighed in? — Arlo Barnes (talk) 09:05, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

If talking about commander of (DEPRECATED) (P598) I do support an un-depreciating for this property! — Pmt (talk) 09:31, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Do we need to undelete P642, or re-create the new P642 solely for this? Midleading (talk) 07:39, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

I feel like just undepreciating this property would be an easier solution.StarTrekker (talk) 14:04, 18 July 2026 (UTC)

Agreed. -- IntensionalLogician (talk) 19:39, 18 July 2026 (UTC)

I support un-depreciating P598. 1000mm (talk) 00:06, 15 March 2026 (UTC)