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36 .\" @(#)xargs.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
44 .Nd "construct argument list(s) and execute utility"
55 .Op Ar utility Op Ar argument ...
59 utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited arguments
60 from the standard input and executes the specified
65 The utility and any arguments specified on the command line are given
68 upon each invocation, followed by some number of the arguments read
72 is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.
74 Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single
76 or double (``"'') quotes or backslashes (``\e'').
77 Single quotes escape all non-single quote characters, excluding newlines,
78 up to the matching single quote.
79 Double quotes escape all non-double quote characters, excluding newlines,
80 up to the matching double quote.
81 Any single character, including newlines, may be escaped by a backslash.
83 The options are as follows:
84 .Bl -tag -width indent
90 characters as separators, instead of spaces and newlines.
91 This is expected to be used in concert with the
96 If this option is specified,
98 will use the data read from standard input to replace the first occurrence of
100 instead of appending that data after all other arguments.
101 This option will not effect how many arguments will be read from input
103 or the size of the command(s)
107 The option just moves where those arguments will be placed in the command(s)
111 must show up as a distinct
115 It will not be recognized if, for instance, it is in the middle of a
117 Furthermore, only the first occurrence of the
120 For example, the following command will copy the list of files and
121 directories which start with an uppercase letter in the current
125 .Dl /bin/ls -1d [A-Z]* | xargs -J [] cp -rp [] destdir
128 Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each
129 invocation of the utility.
134 standard input arguments if the number of bytes accumulated (see the
136 option) exceeds the specified
138 or there are fewer than
140 arguments remaining for the last invocation of
142 The current default value for
146 Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length provided to
148 The sum of the length of the utility name, the arguments passed to
152 terminators) and the current environment will be less than or equal to
154 The current default value for
160 Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately before it
165 to terminate immediately if a command line containing
167 arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length.
176 Undefined behavior may occur if
178 reads from the standard input.
182 utility exits immediately (without processing any further input) if a
183 command line cannot be assembled,
185 cannot be invoked, an invocation of the utility is terminated by a signal
186 or an invocation of the utility exits with a value of 255.
190 utility exits with a value of 0 if no error occurs.
195 exits with a value of 127.
196 If any other error occurs,
198 exits with a value of 1.
206 utility is expected to be
211 option is a non-standard
213 extension which may not be available on other operating systems.
217 attempts to invoke another command such that the number of arguments or the
218 size of the environment is increased, it risks