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36 .\" @(#)xargs.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
37 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/xargs/xargs.1,v 1.6.2.12 2003/06/01 21:40:35 mux Exp $
38 .\" $xMach: xargs.1,v 1.2 2002/02/23 05:23:37 tim Exp $
45 .Nd "construct argument list(s) and execute utility"
52 .Op Fl R Ar replacements
61 .Op Ar utility Op Ar argument ...
65 utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited strings
66 from the standard input and executes
71 Any arguments specified on the command line are given to
73 upon each invocation, followed by some number of the arguments read
74 from the standard input of
77 is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.
79 Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single
81 or double (``"'') quotes or backslashes (``\e'').
82 Single quotes escape all non-single quote characters, excluding newlines,
83 up to the matching single quote.
84 Double quotes escape all non-double quote characters, excluding newlines,
85 up to the matching double quote.
86 Any single character, including newlines, may be escaped by a backslash.
88 The options are as follows:
89 .Bl -tag -width indent
95 characters as separators, instead of spaces and newlines.
96 This is expected to be used in concert with the
103 as a logical EOF marker.
107 for each input line, replacing one or more occurrences of
113 flag is specified) arguments to
115 with the entire line of input.
116 The resulting arguments, after replacement is done, will not be allowed to grow
117 beyond 255 bytes; this is implemented by concatenating as much of the argument
120 as possible, to the constructed arguments to
123 The 255 byte limit does not apply to arguments to
127 and furthermore, no replacement will be done on
133 If this option is specified,
135 will use the data read from standard input to replace the first occurrence of
137 instead of appending that data after all other arguments.
138 This option will not effect how many arguments will be read from input
140 or the size of the command(s)
144 The option just moves where those arguments will be placed in the command(s)
148 must show up as a distinct
152 It will not be recognized if, for instance, it is in the middle of a
154 Furthermore, only the first occurrence of the
157 For example, the following command will copy the list of files and
158 directories which start with an uppercase letter in the current
162 .Dl /bin/ls -1d [A-Z]* | xargs -J % cp -rp % destdir
170 If EOF is reached and fewer lines have been read than
174 will be called with the available lines.
176 Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each
183 standard input arguments if the number of bytes accumulated (see the
185 option) exceeds the specified
187 or there are fewer than
189 arguments remaining for the last invocation of
191 The current default value for
197 in the child process before executing the command.
198 This is useful if you want
200 to run an interactive application.
202 Echo each command to be executed and ask the user whether it should be
204 An affirmative response,
207 causes the command to be executed, any other response causes it to be
209 No commands are executed if the process is not attached to a terminal.
210 .It Fl R Ar replacements
211 Specify the maximum number of arguments that
213 will do replacement in.
215 Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length provided to
217 The sum of the length of the utility name, the arguments passed to
221 terminators) and the current environment will be less than or equal to
223 The current default value for
229 Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately before it
234 to terminate immediately if a command line containing
236 arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length.
245 Undefined behavior may occur if
247 reads from the standard input.
251 utility exits immediately (without processing any further input) if a
252 command line cannot be assembled,
254 cannot be invoked, an invocation of
256 is terminated by a signal,
259 exits with a value of 255.
263 utility exits with a value of 0 if no error occurs.
268 exits with a value of 127, otherwise if
272 exits with a value of 126.
273 If any other error occurs,
275 exits with a value of 1.
283 utility is expected to be
290 options are non-standard
292 extensions which may not be available on other operating systems.
296 command appeared in PWB UNIX.
300 attempts to invoke another command such that the number of arguments or the
301 size of the environment is increased, it risks