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diff --git a/Base/usr/share/man/man1/xargs.md b/Base/usr/share/man/man1/xargs.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..e78cbdd5ea --- /dev/null +++ b/Base/usr/share/man/man1/xargs.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +## Name + +xargs - build and execute commandlines from input + +## Synopsis + +```**sh +$ xargs [options...] [command [initial-arguments...]] +``` + +## Description + +`xargs` reads items from a stream, delimited by some blank character (`delimiter`), and executes the `command` as many times as there are items, with any processed `initial-arguments`, possibly followed by a number of items read from the input. + +If a `placeholder` is explicitly specified, the `max-lines` limit is set to 1, and each argument in `initial-arguments` is processed by replacing any occurence of the `placeholder` with the input item, and treating the entire resulting value as _one_ argument. + +It is to be noted that `command` is also subject to substitution in this mode. + +If no argument in `command` or `initial-arguments` contains the `placeholder`, an argument is added at the end of the list containing only the `placeholder`. + + +If a `placeholder` is not explicitly specified, no substitution will be performed, rather, the item(s) will be appended to the end of the command line, until either of the following conditions are met: +- Adding another argument would overflow the system maximum command length (or the provided `max-chars` limit) +- The number of lines used per command (`max-lines`) would be exceeded + + +`xargs` will read the items from standard input by default, and when data is read from standard input, the standard input of `command` is redirected to read from `/dev/null`. +The standard input is left as-is if data is read from a file. + +## Options + +* `-I`, `--replace`: Set the `placeholder`, and force `max-lines` to 1 +* `-0`, `--null`: Split the items by zero bytes (null characters) instead of `delimiter` +* `-d`, `--delimiter`: Set the `delimiter`, which is a newline (`\n`) by default +* `-v`, `--verbose`: Display each expanded command on standard error before executing it +* `-a`, `--arg-file`: Read the items from the speified file, `-` refers to standard input and is the default +* `-L`, `--line-limit`: Set `max-lines`, `0` means unlimited (which is the default) +* `-s`, `--char-limit`: Set `max-chars`, which is `ARG_MAX` (the maximum command size supported by the system) by default + +## Examples + +```sh +$ pro http://list-of-example-urls.com/plain | xargs -I 'URL' pro URL > concatenated-outputs +$ xargs -a list-of-files-to-delete --verbose rm +$ xargs -a list-of-moves -L 2 mv +$ xargs -a stuff --null -s 1024 +``` |