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Annotated edit history of xargs(1) version 5, including all changes. View license author blame.
Rev Author # Line
1 perry 1 !!NAME
4 CraigBox 2 xargs - build and execute command lines from standard input
1 perry 3
4 !!SYNOPSIS
5
3 PerryLorier 6 __xargs__ [[-0prtx] [[-e[[eof-str]] [[-i[[replace-str]] [[-l[[max-lines]] [[-n max-args] [[-s max-chars] [[-P max-procs] [[--null] [[--eof[[=eof-str]] [[--replace[[=replace-str]] [[--max-lines[[=max-lines]] [[--interactive] [[--max-chars=max-chars] [[--verbose] [[--exit] [[--max-procs=max-procs] [[--max-args=max-args]
7 [[--no-run-if-empty] [[--version] [[--help] [[command [[initial-arguments]]
8
1 perry 9 !!DESCRIPTION
3 PerryLorier 10 This manual page documents the GNU version of __xargs__. __xargs__ reads arguments from the standard input, delimited by blanks (which can be protected with double or
11 single quotes or a backslash) or newlines, and executes the ''command'' (default is /bin/echo) one or more times with any ''initial-arguments'' followed by arguments read from standard input. Blank lines on the standard input are ignored.
1 perry 12
13 __xargs__ exits with the following status:
3 PerryLorier 14 |0| if it succeeds
15 |123| if any invocation of the command exited with status 1-125
16 |124| if the command exited with status 255
17 |125| if the command is killed by a signal
18 |126| if the command cannot be run
19 |127| if the command is not found
20 |1| if some other error occurred.
1 perry 21
3 PerryLorier 22 !!OPTIONS
1 perry 23
3 PerryLorier 24 ;''--null, -0'': Input filenames are terminated by a null character instead of by whitespace, and the quotes and backslash are not special (every character is taken literally). Disables the end of file string, which is treated like any other argument. Useful when arguments might contain white space, quote marks, or backslashes. The GNU find -print0 option produces input suitable for this mode.
1 perry 25
3 PerryLorier 26 ;''--eof[[=eof-str], -e[[eof-str]'': Set the end of file string to ''eof-str''. If the end of file string occurs as a line of input, the rest of the input is ignored. If ''eof-str'' is omitted, there is no end of file string. If this option is not given, the end of file string defaults to ''
1 perry 27
3 PerryLorier 28 ;''--help'': Print a summary of the options to __xargs__ and exit.
1 perry 29
5 DanielLawson 30 ;''--replace[[=replace-str], -i[[replace-str]'': Replace occurences of ''replace-str'' in the initial arguments with names read from standard input. Also, unquoted blanks do not terminate arguments. If ''replace-str'' is omitted, it defaults to ''{}'', like ''find -exec''. Implies ''-x'' and ''-l 1''.
1 perry 31
3 PerryLorier 32 ;''--max-lines[[=max-lines], -l[[max-lines]'': Use at most ''max-lines'' nonblank input lines per command line; ''max-lines'' defaults to 1 if omitted. Trailing blanks cause an input line to be logically continued on the next input line. Implies ''-x''.
1 perry 33
3 PerryLorier 34 ;''--max-args=max-args, -n max-args'': Use at most ''max-args'' arguments per command line. Fewer than ''max-args'' arguments will be used if the size (see the -s option) is exceeded, unless the -x option is given, in which case __xargs__ will exit.
1 perry 35
3 PerryLorier 36 ;''--interactive, -p'': Prompt the user about whether to run each command line and read a line from the terminal. Only run the command line if the response starts with `y' or `Y'. Implies ''-t''.
1 perry 37
3 PerryLorier 38 ;''--no-run-if-empty, -r'': If the standard input does not contain any nonblanks, do not run the command. Normally, the command is run once even if there is no input.
1 perry 39
40
3 PerryLorier 41 ;''--max-chars=max-chars, -s max-chars'': Use at most ''max-chars'' characters per command line, including the command and initial arguments and the terminating nulls at the ends of the argument strings. The default is as large as possible, up to 20k characters.
1 perry 42
3 PerryLorier 43 ;''--verbose, -t'': Print the command line on the standard error output before executing it.
1 perry 44
45
3 PerryLorier 46 ;''--version'': Print the version number of __xargs__ and exit.
1 perry 47
3 PerryLorier 48 ;''--exit, -x'': Exit if the size (see the ''-s'' option) is exceeded.
1 perry 49
3 PerryLorier 50 ;''--max-procs=max-procs, -P max-procs'': Run up to ''max-procs'' processes at a time; the default is 1. If ''max-procs'' is 0, __xargs__ will run as many processes as possible at a time. Use the ''-n'' option with ''-P''; otherwise chances are that only one exec will be done.
1 perry 51
52 !!EXAMPLE
2 StuartYeates 53
54 If you're using the command:
55
4 CraigBox 56 ''grep 7d archive/*''
2 StuartYeates 57
3 PerryLorier 58 and the ''archive'' directory has grown too large and is now giving the error ''Argument list too long'' you can use:
2 StuartYeates 59
60 ''find archive -type f | xargs grep '7d'''
61
3 PerryLorier 62 This could also be done using the -exec option to find, but this approach causing a process creation for each file.
2 StuartYeates 63
1 perry 64 !!SEE ALSO
3 PerryLorier 65 find(1), locate(1), locatedb(5), updatedb(1) __Finding Files__ (on-line in Info, or printed)
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