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.\" @(#)xargs.1 5.5 (Berkeley) 6/27/91
.TH XARGS 1 "June 27, 1991"
xargs \- construct argument list(s) and execute utility.
xargs [\-ft] [[\-x] \-n number] [\-s size] [utility [argument ...]]
utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited arguments
from the standard input and executes the specified
The utility and any arguments specified on the command line are given
upon each invocation, followed by some number of the arguments read
is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.
Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single (`` ' '')
or double (``"'') quotes or backslashes (``\e'').
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:
to ignore the exit status returned by
exits with a non-zero exit status.
This does not include ignoring
exiting due to a signal or without calling
Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each
invocation of the utility.
standard input arguments if the number of bytes accumulated (see the
option) exceeds the specified
arguments remaining for the last invocation of
The current default value for
Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length provided to
The sum of the length of the utility name and the arguments passed to
(including NULL terminators) will be less than or equal to this number.
The current default value for
Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately before it
to terminate immediately if a command line containing
arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length.
Undefined behavior may occur if
reads from the standard input.
exits with an exit status of 0 if no error occurs.
cannot be invoked, is terminated by a signal or terminates without
exits with an exit status of 127.
exits with an exit status other than 0,
exits with that exit status.
exits with an exit status of 1.
utility is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compliant.