XARGS(1) NetBSD Reference Manual XARGS(1)
NAME
xargs - construct argument list(s) and execute utility.
SYNOPSIS
xargs [-t] [[-x] -n number] [-s size] [utility [argument ...]]
DESCRIPTION
The xargs utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited ar-
guments from the standard input and executes the specified utility with
them as arguments.
The utility and any arguments specified on the command line are given to
the utility upon each invocation, followed by some number of the argu-
ments read from standard input. The utility is repeatedly executed until
standard input is exhausted.
Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single or
double quotes or backslashes. 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:
-n number
Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for
each invocation of the utility. An invocation of utility will
use less than number standard input arguments if the number of
bytes accumulated (see the -s option) exceeds the specified size
or there are fewer than number arguments remaining for the last
invocation of utility. The current default value for number is
5000.
-s size
Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length pro-
vided to utility. The sum of the length of the utility name and
the arguments passed to utility (including NULL terminators) will
be less than or equal to this number. The current default value
for size is ARG_MAX - 2048.
-t Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately be-
fore it is executed.
-x Force xargs to terminate immediately if a command line containing
number arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) com-
mand line length.
If no utility is specified, echo(1) is used.
Undefined behavior may occur if utility reads from the standard input.
DIAGNOSTICS
xargs exits with one of the following values:
0 All invocations of utility returned a zero exit status.
123 One or more invocations of utility returned a nonzero exit sta-
tus.
124 The utility exited with a 255 exit status.
125 The utility was killed or stopped by a signal.
126 The utility was found but could not be invoked.
127 The utility could not be found.
1 Some other error occurred.
SEE ALSO
echo(1), find(1)
STANDARDS
xargs is expected to be IEEE Std1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compliant.
HISTORY
The meaning of 123, 124, and 125 exit values were taken from GNU xargs.
BSD Experimental October 2, 1994 2
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