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@(#)xargs.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.Dd December 21, 1999 .Dt XARGS 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm xargs .Nd "construct argument list(s) and execute utility" .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl 0 .Op Fl I Ar replstr .Op Fl p .Op Fl t .Oo Op Fl x .Fl n Ar number .Oc .Op Fl s Ar size .Op Ar utility Op Ar arguments ... .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited arguments from the standard input and executes the specified .Ar utility with them as arguments.
p The utility and any arguments specified on the command line are given to the .Ar utility upon each invocation, followed by some number of the arguments read from standard input. The .Ar utility is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.
p 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.
p The options are as follows: l -tag -width Fl t Fl 0 Use NUL (``\e0'') instead of whitespace as the argument separator. This can be used in conjuction with the .Fl print0 option of .Xr find 1 . t Fl n Ar number Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each invocation of the utility. An invocation of .Ar utility will use less than .Ar number standard input arguments if the number of bytes accumulated (see the .Fl s option) exceeds the specified .Ar size or there are fewer than .Ar number arguments remaining for the last invocation of .Ar utility . The current default value for .Ar number is 5000. t Fl p Prompt mode: immediately before each command execution the user is prompted whether to execute the command instance. If an affirmative response is read from
a /dev/tty the command will be executed; otherwise this particular invocation will be skipped. This option implies the .Fl t option. t Fl s Ar size 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 .Dv NULL terminators) will be less than or equal to this number. The current default value for .Ar size is .Dv ARG_MAX - 4096. t Fl t Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately before it is executed. t Fl x Force .Nm to terminate immediately if a command line containing .Ar number arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length. .El
p If no .Ar utility is specified, .Xr echo 1 is used.
p Undefined behavior may occur if .Ar utility reads from the standard input.
p The .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 or an invocation of the utility exits with a value of 255. .Sh FILES l -tag -width /dev/tty -compact t Pa /dev/tty used to read responses in prompt mode .El .Sh EXIT STATUS .Nm exits with one of the following values: l -tag -width Ds -compact t 0 All invocations of .Ar utility returned a zero exit status. t 123 One or more invocations of .Ar utility returned a nonzero exit status. t 124 The .Ar utility exited with a 255 exit status. t 125 The .Ar utility was killed or stopped by a signal. t 126 The .Ar utility was found but could not be invoked. t 127 The .Ar utility could not be found. t 1 Some other error occurred. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr echo 1 , .Xr find 1 .Sh STANDARDS The .Nm utility is expected to be .St -p1003.2 compliant. .Sh HISTORY The .Nm xargs command appeared in PWB Unix 1.0. It made its first BSD appearance in the 4.3 Reno release.
p The meaning of 123, 124, and 125 exit values and the .Fl 0 option were taken from GNU xargs.
Indexes created Wed Oct 22 06:10:02 GMT 2025