SYNOPSIS

       xargs [flags] [command [initial-arguments]]

DESCRIPTION

       Xargs  executes  command  using the given initial arguments followed by
       arguments read from standard input.  By default, command is invoked  as
       many  times as necessary using the maximum number of arguments possible
       for each invocation.  If no command is given, echo is used.

       Data read from standard input is split into a list of arguments,  using
       blanks  and  newline characters as delimiters.  Special characters are:
       backslash (\), which causes any following character to  be  interpreted
       literally,  and single (') and double (") quotes, which cause following
       characters except newline to be taken literally until the quote charac-
       ter appears again.

       The following option flags are accepted:

       -e[eofstr]  Sets  the  logical end-of-file delimiter to eofstr; data is
                   read from standard input until an argument equal to  eofstr
                   is  encountered.   If eofstr is omitted, no logical end-of-
                   file delimiter is used and data is read from standard input
                   until  the  physical  end-of-file  is reached.  The default
                   logical end-of-file delimiter is a single underscore  char-
                   acter (_).

       -i[replstr] Changes  the  operation  of  xargs such that each line read
                   from standard input replaces occurrences of replstr  within
                   the  initial-arguments.   If  replstr  is  omitted,  {}  is
                   default.  Any member of initial-arguments can each  contain
                   any  number of occurrences of replstr.  The command is exe-
                   cuted once for each  line  until  physical  end-of-file  is
                   reached or a line consisting exactly of the logical end-of-
                   file delimiter is read.   Empty  lines  and  leading  blank
                   characters  are  ignored,  other  blank characters are kept
                   regardless of quotes.

       -l[number]  Invokes command for each number of lines; 1 is  default  if
                   no number is specified.  Empty lines are ignored; if a line
                   ends with an unquoted blank character, it is not counted.

       -n number   Executes command for each number  of  arguments  read  from
                   standard  input,  or  with  fewer  arguments if the maximum
                   argument length is exceeded or fewer than number  arguments
                   remain.

       -p          Each  resulting  command is written to standard error along
                   with its arguments before it is executed and  the  user  is
                   asked  whether  it  should be executed.  If the response is
                   affirmative, the command is executed; otherwise, the execu-
                   tion of this command instance is skipped.

       -I replstr  Same as -ireplstr.

       When any instance of command exits with a status of -1 or is terminated
       by a signal, xargs terminates.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       LANG, LC_ALL
              See locale(7).

       LC_CTYPE
              Determines  the  mapping  of  bytes to characters and the set of
              blank characters.

       PATH   Used to locate command.

FILES

       /dev/tty Used with the -p option.

SEE ALSO

       find(1), sh(1), locale(7)

NOTES

       When xargs is used to read data generated by the find  or  ls  commands
       and  any  of the characters special to xargs appear in file names, com-
       mand will be invoked with a wrong set of file names.   To  avert  this,
       find  is  given a special pathname consisting of two slashes that marks
       the beginning of a file name, and each character  is  preceded  with  a
       backslash:

              find .//. -print | sed 's/./\\&/g' | awk '{
                      if (NR > 1) {
                              printf("%s", line)
                              if ($0 !~ /\\\/\\\//)
                                      printf("\\")
                              printf("\n")
                      }
                      line = $0
              }
              END {
                      print(line)
              }' | xargs command

       Note that the `-exec command {} +' operand of find provides a method to
       achieve similar results as with xargs for simple cases.



Heirloom Toolchest                  8/14/05                           XARGS(1)