xargs

all

Execute a command with piped arguments coming from another command, a file, etc. The input is treated as a single block of text and split into separate pieces on spaces, tabs, newlines, and end-of-file. See also: `parallel`.

More info →

Options (5)

-n, --max-argsboolean

Execute a new command with each argument

Example: {{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-n|--max-args]}} 1 {{command}}

-P, --max-procsboolean

Raise the parallel process limit to 10 (default is 1; 0 means as many processes as possible)

Example: {{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-P|--max-procs]}} 10 {{[-n|--max-args]}} {{1}} {{command}}

-p, --interactiveboolean

Prompt user for confirmation before executing command (confirm with `y` or `Y`)

Example: {{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-p|--interactive]}} {{command}}

-a, --arg-fileboolean

Read a file for arguments to be given to a command

Example: xargs {{[-a|--arg-file]}} {{path/to/file}} {{command}}

-o, --open-ttyboolean

Allow the command to access the terminal for interactive input

Example: {{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-o|--open-tty]}} {{command}}

Examples (8)

Run a command using the input data as arguments

arguments_source | xargs command

Run multiple chained commands on the input data

arguments_source | xargs sh -c "command1 && command2 | command3"

Execute a new command with each argument

arguments_source | xargs [-n|--max-args] 1 command

Raise the parallel process limit to 10 (default is 1; 0 means as many processes as possible)

arguments_source | xargs [-P|--max-procs] 10 [-n|--max-args] 1 command

Execute the command once for each input line, replacing any occurrences of the placeholder (here marked as `_`) with the input line

arguments_source | xargs -I _ command _ optional_extra_arguments

Prompt user for confirmation before executing command (confirm with `y` or `Y`)

arguments_source | xargs [-p|--interactive] command

Read a file for arguments to be given to a command

xargs [-a|--arg-file] path/to/file command

Allow the command to access the terminal for interactive input

arguments_source | xargs [-o|--open-tty] command

made by @shridhargupta | data from tldr-pages