CoreOS 766.3.0 Stable
$ source /etc/os-release; echo $PRETTY_NAME
CoreOS 766.3.0+2015-09-16-1354
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/foo
lsblk: /dev/foo: not a block device
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdf
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
ext4
RedHat Enterprise Linux 7
$ source /etc/os-release; echo $PRETTY_NAME
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7.1 (Maipo)
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/foo
lsblk: /dev/foo: not a block device
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdf
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
ext4
Ubuntu 14.04
$ source /etc/os-release; echo $PRETTY_NAME
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/foo
lsblk: /dev/foo: not a block device
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdf
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
ext4
Ubuntu 12.04
$ source /etc/os-release; echo $PRETTY_NAME
Ubuntu precise (12.04.5 LTS)
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/foo
lsblk: /dev/foo: not a block device
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdf
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
ext4
Debian 7
$ source /etc/os-release; echo $PRETTY_NAME
Debian GNU/Linux 7 (wheezy)
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/foo
lsblk: /dev/foo: not a block device
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdf
$ lsblk -nd -o FSTYPE /dev/sdf
ext4
this don't work with partition tables though so if your device have a partition table on it it will still format it.