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xargs - build and execute command lines from standard input
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] [--no-run-if-empty] [--version] [--help] [command [initial-arguments]]
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 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.
xargs exits with the following
status:
0 if it succeeds
123 if any invocation of the command exited with status 1-125
124 if the command exited with status 255
125 if the command is killed by a signal
126 if the command cannot be run
127 if the command is not found
1 if some other error occurred.
- --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.
- --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 "_".
- --help
- Print a summary of the options to xargs
and exit.
- --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 for `find -exec'). Implies -x and -l 1 .
- --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 .
- --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.
- --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 .
- --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.
- --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.
- --verbose, -t
- Print the command
line on the standard error output before executing it.
- --version
- Print the
version number of xargs and exit.
- --exit, -x
- Exit if the size (see the -s
option) is exceeded.
- --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.
find
(1L)
, locate (1L)
, locatedb (5L)
, updatedb (1)
Finding Files (on-line
in Info, or printed)
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