Learn the UNIX/Linux command line
Home Man Pages
XARGS(1L) XARGS(1L)
NAME
xargs - build and execute command lines from standard input
SYNOPSIS
xargs [-0prtx] [-E eof-str] [-e[eof-str]] [-I replace-str]
[-i[replace-str]] [-L max-lines] [-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] [com-
mand [initial-arguments]]
DESCRIPTION
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.
OPTIONS
--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 back-
slashes. The GNU find -print0 option produces input suitable
for this mode.
--eof[=eof-str], -E 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 or if -E option's argument is
an empty string, 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, -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, -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 exe-
cuting 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.
SEE ALSO
find(1L), locate(1L), locatedb(5L), updatedb(1) Finding Files (on-line
in Info, or printed)
XARGS(1L)
UNIX/Linux commands referenced on this page: