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Diff for /src/usr.bin/xargs/xargs.1 between version 1.6 and 1.7

version 1.6, 1998/10/30 00:24:44

version 1.7, 1999/08/18 13:09:45

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.Op Ar utility Op Ar arguments ...

.Sh DESCRIPTION

The

.Nm xargs

.Nm

utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited arguments

utility reads space, tab, newline, and end-of-file delimited arguments

from the standard input and executes the specified

.Ar utility

with them as

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is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.

.Pp

Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single

(``\ '\ '')

.Pq Ql '

.Ek

or double

or double (``"'') quotes or backslashes (``\e'').

.Pq Ql \&"

quotes or backslashes

.Pq Ql \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,

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.Bl -tag -width indent

.It Fl 0

Changes

.Nm xargs

.Nm

to expect NUL

(``\\0'')

.Pq Ql \e0

characters as separators, instead of spaces and newlines.

This is expected to be used in concert with the

.Fl print0

function in

.Nm find .

.Xr find 1 .

.It Fl n Ar number

Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each

invocation of the utility.

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.Ar number

is 5000.

.It Fl s Ar size

Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length provided to

Set the maximum number of bytes for the command-line length provided to

.Ar utility .

The sum of the length of the utility name and the arguments passed to

.Ar utility

(including

(including null terminators) will be less than or equal to this number.

.Dv NULL

terminators) will be less than or equal to this number.

The current default value for

.Ar size

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is executed.

.It Fl x

Force

.Nm xargs

.Nm

to terminate immediately if a command line containing

.Ar number

arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length.

arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command-line length.

.El

.Pp

If no

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reads from the standard input.

.Pp

The

.Nm xargs

.Nm

utility exits immediately (without processing any further input) if a

command line cannot be assembled,

.Ar utility

cannot be invoked, an invocation of the utility is terminated by a signal

cannot be invoked, an invocation of the utility is terminated by a signal,

or an invocation of the utility exits with a value of 255.

.Sh DIAGNOSTICS

.Nm xargs

.Nm

exits with one of the following values:

.Pp

.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact

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.Xr find 1

.Sh STANDARDS

The

.Nm xargs

.Nm

utility is expected to be

.St -p1003.2

compliant.

.Sh HISTORY

The meaning of 123, 124, and 125 exit values were taken from GNU xargs.

The meaning of 123, 124, and 125 exit values were taken from GNU

.Nm xargs .