(find.info)xargs options

---

Next: Invoking the shell from xargs Up: Invoking xargs

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

8.4.1 xargs options
-------------------

'--arg-file=INPUTFILE'
'-a INPUTFILE'
     Read names from the file INPUTFILE instead of standard input.  If
     you use this option, the standard input stream remains unchanged
     when commands are run.  Otherwise, stdin is redirected from
     '/dev/null'.

'--null'
'-0'
     Input file names are terminated by a null character instead of by
     whitespace, and any quotes and backslash characters are not
     considered special (every character is taken literally).  Disables
     the end of file string, which is treated like any other argument.

'--delimiter DELIM'
'-d DELIM'

     Input file names are terminated by the specified character DELIM
     instead of by whitespace, and any quotes and backslash characters
     are not considered special (every character is taken literally).
     Disables the logical end of file marker string, which is treated
     like any other argument.

     The specified delimiter may be a single character, a C-style
     character escape such as '\n', or an octal or hexadecimal escape
     code.  Octal and hexadecimal escape codes are understood as for the
     'printf' command.  Multibyte characters are not supported.

'-E EOF-STR'
'--eof[=EOF-STR]'
'-e[EOF-STR]'

     Set the logical end of file marker string to EOF-STR.  If the
     logical end of file marker string occurs as a line of input, the
     rest of the input is ignored.  If EOF-STR is omitted ('-e') or
     blank (either '-e' or '-E'), there is no logical end of file marker
     string.  The '-e' form of this option is deprecated in favour of
     the POSIX-compliant '-E' option, which you should use instead.  As
     of GNU 'xargs' version 4.2.9, the default behaviour of 'xargs' is
     not to have a logical end of file marker string.  The POSIX
     standard (IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition) allows this.

     The logical end of file marker string is not treated specially if
     the '-d' or the '-0' options are in effect.  That is, when either
     of these options are in effect, the whole input file will be read
     even if '-E' was used.

'--help'
     Print a summary of the options to 'xargs' and exit.

'-I REPLACE-STR'
'--replace[=REPLACE-STR]'
'-i[REPLACE-STR]'
     Replace occurrences of REPLACE-STR in the initial arguments with
     names read from standard input.  Also, unquoted blanks do not
     terminate arguments; instead, the input is split at newlines only.
     If REPLACE-STR is omitted (omitting it is allowed only for '-i'),
     it defaults to '{}' (like for 'find -exec').  Implies '-x' and '-l
     1'.  The '-i' option is deprecated in favour of the '-I' option.

'-L MAX-LINES'
'--max-lines[=MAX-LINES]'
'-l[MAX-LINES]'
     Use at most MAX-LINES non-blank input lines per command line.  For
     '-l', MAX-LINES defaults to 1 if omitted.  For '-L', the argument
     is mandatory.  Trailing blanks cause an input line to be logically
     continued on the next input line, for the purpose of counting the
     lines.  Implies '-x'.  The '-l' form of this option is deprecated
     in favour of the POSIX-compliant '-L' option.

'--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.

'--open-tty'
'-o'
     Reopen stdin as '/dev/tty' in the child process before executing
     the command, thus allowing that command to be associated to the
     terminal while 'xargs' reads from a different stream, e.g.  from a
     pipe.  This is useful if you want 'xargs' to run an interactive
     application.
          grep -lz PATTERN * | xargs -0o vi

'--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 is completely empty, do not run the command.
     By default, 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, initial arguments and any terminating nulls at the ends of
     the argument strings.

'--show-limits'
     Display the limits on the command-line length which are imposed by
     the operating system, 'xargs'' choice of buffer size and the '-s'
     option.  Pipe the input from '/dev/null' (and perhaps specify
     '--no-run-if-empty') if you don't want 'xargs' to do anything.

'--verbose'
'-t'
     Print the command line on the standard error output before
     executing 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 simultaneously up to MAX-PROCS processes at once; the default
     is 1.  If MAX-PROCS is 0, 'xargs' will run as many processes as
     possible simultaneously.  Note: Controlling Parallelism, for
     information on dynamically controlling parallelism.

'--process-slot-var=ENVIRONMENT-VARIABLE-NAME'
     Set the environment variable ENVIRONMENT-VARIABLE-NAME to a unique
     value in each running child process.  Each value is a decimal
     integer.  Values are reused once child processes exit.  This can be
     used in a rudimentary load distribution scheme, for example.