NAME
    xargs - build and execute command lines from standard input

SYNOPSIS
    xargs [-0prtx] [-e[eof-str]] [-i[replace-str]] [-l[max-lines]] [-n max-
    args] [-s max-chars] [-P  max-procs]  [--null]  [--eof[=eof-str]]
    [--replace[=replace-str]]  [--max-lines[=max-lines]]  [--interactive]
    [--max-chars=max-chars] [--verbose] [--exit] [--max-procs=max-procs]
    [--max-args=max-args] [--no-run-if-empty] [--version] [--help] [command
    [initial-arguments]]

DESCRIPTION
    This manual page documents the GNU version of xargs. xargs reads argu-
    ments from the standard input, delimited by blanks (which can be pro-
    tected with double or single quotes or a backslash) or newlines, and
    executes  the command (default is /bin/echo) one or more times with any
    initial-arguments followed by arguments read from standard input.
    Blank lines on the standard input are ignored.

    xargs exits with the following status:
    0 if it succeeds
    123 if any invocation of the command exited with status 1-125
    124 if the command exited with status 255
    125 if the command is killed by a signal
    126 if the command cannot be run
    127 if the command is not found
    1 if some other error occurred.

 OPTIONS
    --null, -0
    Input filenames are terminated by a null character instead of by
    whitespace, and the quotes and backslash are not special (every
    character is taken literally). Disables the end of file string,
    which is treated like any other argument.  Useful when arguments
    might contain white space, quote marks, or backslashes. The GNU
    find -print0 option produces input suitable for this mode.

    --eof[=eof-str], -e[eof-str]
    Set the end of file string to eof-str. If the  end of file
    string occurs as a line of input, the rest of the input is
    ignored. If eof-str is omitted, there is no end of file string.
    If this option is not given, the end of file string defaults to
    "_".

    --help Print a summary of the options to xargs and exit.

    --replace[=replace-str], -i[replace-str]
    Replace occurences of replace-str in the initial arguments with
    names read from  standard input. Also, unquoted blanks do not
    terminate arguments. If replace-str is omitted, it defaults to
    "{}" (like for `find -exec'). Implies -x and -l 1.

    --max-lines[=max-lines], -l[max-lines]
    Use at most max-lines nonblank input lines per command line;
    max-lines defaults to 1 if omitted. Trailing blanks cause an
    input line to be logically continued on the next input line.
    Implies -x.

    --max-args=max-args, -n max-args
    Use at most max-args arguments per command line.  Fewer than
    max-args arguments will be used if the size (see the -s option)
    is exceeded, unless the -x option is given, in which case  xargs
    will exit.

    --interactive, -p
    Prompt the user about whether to run each command line and read
    a line from the terminal.  Only run the command  line if the
    response starts with `y' or `Y'. Implies -t.

    --no-run-if-empty, -r
    If the standard input does not contain any nonblanks, do not run
    the command. Normally, the command is run once even if there is
    no input.

    --max-chars=max-chars, -s max-chars
    Use at most max-chars characters per command line, including the
    command and initial arguments and the terminating nulls at the
    ends of the argument strings. The default is as large as possi-
    ble, up to 20k characters.

    --verbose, -t
    Print the command line on the standard error output before exe-
    cuting it.

    --version
    Print the version number of xargs and exit.

    --exit, -x
    Exit if the size (see the -s option) is exceeded.

    --max-procs=max-procs, -P max-procs
    Run up to max-procs processes at a time; the default is 1. If
    max-procs is 0, xargs will run as many processes as possible at
    a  time.  Use the -n option with -P; otherwise chances are that
    only one exec will be done.

SEE ALSO
   find(1L),locate(1L), locatedb(5L),updatedb(1) Finding Files (on-line
    in Info, or printed)