7.4 Invoking xargs

     xargs [option...] [command [initial-arguments]]

xargs exits with the following status:

0

if it succeeds

123

if any invocation of the command exited with status 1-125

124

if the command exited with status 255

125

if the command is killed by a signal

126

if the command cannot be run

127

if the command is not found

1

if some other error occurred.

--arg-file=inputfile

-a =inputfile

Read names from the file inputfile instead of standard input.

--null

-0

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

--eof[=eof-str]

-e[eof-str]

Set the end of file string to eof-str. If the end of file string occurs as a line of input, the rest of the input is ignored. If eof-str is omitted, there is no end of file string. If this option is not given, the end of file string defaults to _.

--help

Print a summary of the options to xargs and exit.

--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, it defaults to {} (like for find -exec). Implies -x and -l 1.

--max-lines[=max-lines]

-l[max-lines]

Use at most max-lines nonblank input lines per command line; max-lines defaults to 1 if omitted. Trailing blanks cause an input line to be logically continued on the next input line, for the purpose of counting the lines. Implies -x.

--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.

--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 does not contain any nonblanks, 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 and initial arguments and the terminating nulls at the ends of the argument strings.

--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 up to max-procs processes at a time; the default is 1. If max-procs is 0, xargs will run as many processes as possible at a time.