XARGS
Section: User Commands (1)
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NAME
xargs
- construct argument list(s) and execute utility
SYNOPSIS
[-0
]
[-t
]
[[-x
]
-n number
]
[-s size
]
[utility [arguments ...
]
]
DESCRIPTION
The
utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited arguments
from the standard input and executes the specified
utility
with them as
arguments.
The utility and any arguments specified on the command line are given
to the
utility
upon each invocation, followed by some number of the arguments read
from standard input.
The
utility
is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.
Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single
(`` ' '')
or double (``"'') quotes or backslashes (``\'').
Single quotes escape all non-single quote characters, excluding newlines,
up to the matching single quote.
Double quotes escape all non-double quote characters, excluding newlines,
up to the matching double quote.
Any single character, including newlines, may be escaped by a backslash.
The options are as follows:
- -0
-
Use NUL
(``\0'')
instead of whitespace as the argument separator.
This can be used in conjuction with the
-print0
option of
find(1).
- -n number
-
Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each
invocation of the utility.
An invocation of
utility
will use less than
number
standard input arguments if the number of bytes accumulated (see the
-s
option) exceeds the specified
size
or there are fewer than
number
arguments remaining for the last invocation of
utility
The current default value for
number
is 5000.
- -s size
-
Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length provided to
utility
The sum of the length of the utility name and the arguments passed to
utility
(including
NULL
terminators) will be less than or equal to this number.
The current default value for
size
is
ARG_MAX
- 2048.
- -t
-
Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately before it
is executed.
- -x
-
Force
to terminate immediately if a command line containing
number
arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length.
If no
utility
is specified,
echo(1)
is used.
Undefined behavior may occur if
utility
reads from the standard input.
The
utility exits immediately (without processing any further input) if a
command line cannot be assembled,
utility
cannot be invoked, an invocation of the utility is terminated by a signal
or an invocation of the utility exits with a value of 255.
DIAGNOSTICS
exits with one of the following values:
- 0
-
All invocations of
utility
returned a zero exit status.
- 123
-
One or more invocations of
utility
returned a nonzero exit status.
- 124
-
The
utility
exited with a 255 exit status.
- 125
-
The
utility
was killed or stopped by a signal.
- 126
-
The
utility
was found but could not be invoked.
- 127
-
The
utility
could not be found.
- 1
-
Some other error occurred.
SEE ALSO
echo(1),
find(1)
STANDARDS
The
utility is expected to be
St -p1003.2
compliant.
HISTORY
The meaning of 123, 124, and 125 exit values were taken from GNU xargs.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- DIAGNOSTICS
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- STANDARDS
-
- HISTORY
-
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Time: 04:29:55 GMT, April 24, 2025