Toolbox Aid

August 12th, 2024 12:44 PM Mr. Q Categories: Command

The xargs command is used to build and execute command lines from standard input. It reads items from standard input, separated by spaces, newlines, or other delimiters, and executes a specified command with those items as arguments.

Command:

xargs [options] [command [arguments]]

Examples

1. Use xargs to Remove Files

   find . -name "*.tmp" | xargs rm

Sample Input:

   file1.tmp
   file2.tmp

Sample Output:

   (No output; the files are deleted)

2. Pass Arguments to a Command

   echo "file1.txt file2.txt" | xargs cat

Sample Input:

   file1.txt file2.txt

Sample Output:

   (Contents of file1.txt and file2.txt concatenated and displayed)

3. Use xargs with a Custom Delimiter

   echo "file1:file2:file3" | xargs -d: -I {} cp {} /destination/

Sample Input:

   file1:file2:file3

Sample Output:

   (Files file1, file2, and file3 copied to /destination/)

4. Limit the Number of Arguments

   echo "file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt file4.txt" | xargs -n 2 cp -t /destination/

Sample Input:

   file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt file4.txt

Sample Output:

   (Files file1.txt and file2.txt copied to /destination/)
   (Files file3.txt and file4.txt copied to /destination/)

5. Execute a Command with Input from a File

   xargs -a filelist.txt wc -l

Sample File (filelist.txt):

   file1.txt
   file2.txt

Sample Output:

   10 file1.txt
   20 file2.txt
   30 total

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The xargs command is a powerful utility for handling command line arguments and performing batch operations on files or data.