Final answer:
The 'file' command is used to identify a file type in Unix-like operating systems, analyzing the file and providing a description of its type.
Step-by-step explanation:
The command used to identify a file type in Unix-like operating systems is file. When you execute the file command followed by a filename, it analyzes the file and prints out the result, specifying the file's type. For instance, if you have a file named document.txt, by running file document.txt in the terminal, you might receive an output like document.txt: ASCII text, indicating that it is a text file.