| .TH XARGS 1L \" -*- nroff -*- |
| .SH NAME |
| xargs \- build and execute command lines from standard input |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| .B 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]] |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| This manual page |
| documents the GNU version of |
| .BR xargs . |
| .B 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 |
| .I command |
| (default is /bin/echo) one or more times with any |
| .I initial-arguments |
| followed by arguments read from standard input. Blank lines on the |
| standard input are ignored. |
| .P |
| .B xargs |
| exits with the following status: |
| .nf |
| 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. |
| .fi |
| .SS OPTIONS |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-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. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-eof[=eof-str], \-e[eof-str]" |
| Set the end of file string to \fIeof-str\fR. If the end of file |
| string occurs as a line of input, the rest of the input is ignored. |
| If \fIeof-str\fR is omitted, there is no end of file string. If this |
| option is not given, the end of file string defaults to "_". |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-help" |
| Print a summary of the options to |
| .B xargs |
| and exit. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-replace[=replace-str], \-i[replace-str]" |
| Replace occurences of \fIreplace-str\fR in the initial arguments with |
| names read from standard input. |
| Also, unquoted blanks do not terminate arguments. |
| If \fIreplace-str\fR is omitted, it |
| defaults to "{}" (like for `find \-exec'). Implies \fI\-x\fP and |
| \fI\-l 1\fP. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-max-lines[=max-lines], -l[max-lines]" |
| Use at most \fImax-lines\fR nonblank input lines per command line; |
| \fImax-lines\fR defaults to 1 if omitted. Trailing blanks cause an |
| input line to be logically continued on the next input line. Implies |
| \fI\-x\fR. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-max-args=max-args, \-n max-args" |
| Use at most \fImax-args\fR arguments per command line. Fewer than |
| \fImax-args\fR arguments will be used if the size (see the \-s option) |
| is exceeded, unless the \-x option is given, in which case \fBxargs\fR |
| will exit. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-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 \fI\-t\fR. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-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. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-max-chars=max-chars, \-s max-chars" |
| Use at most \fImax-chars\fR 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. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-verbose, \-t" |
| Print the command line on the standard error output before executing |
| it. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-version" |
| Print the version number of |
| .B xargs |
| and exit. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-exit, \-x" |
| Exit if the size (see the \fI\-s\fR option) is exceeded. |
| .TP |
| .I "\-\-max-procs=max-procs, \-P max-procs" |
| Run up to \fImax-procs\fR processes at a time; the default is 1. If |
| \fImax-procs\fR is 0, \fBxargs\fR will run as many processes as |
| possible at a time. Use the \fI\-n\fR option with \fI\-P\fR; |
| otherwise chances are that only one exec will be done. |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| \fBfind\fP(1L), \fBlocate\fP(1L), \fBlocatedb\fP(5L), \fBupdatedb\fP(1) |
| \fBFinding Files\fP (on-line in Info, or printed) |