xargs

The xargs utility shall construct a command line consisting of the utility and argument operands specified followed by as many arguments read in sequence from standard input as fit in length and number constraints specified by the options. The xargs utility shall then invoke the constructed command line and wait for its completion. This sequence shall be repeated until one of the following occurs: An argument consisting of just the logical end-of-file string (see the -E eofstr option) is found on standard input after double-quote processing, processing, and -escape processing (see next paragraph). All arguments up to but not including the argument consisting of just the logical end-of-file string shall be used as arguments in constructed command lines. The generated command line length shall be the sum of the size in bytes of the utility name and each argument treated as strings, including a null byte terminator for each of these strings. The xargs utility shall limit the command line length such that when the command line is invoked, the combined argument and environment lists (see the exec family of functions in the System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1-2017) shall not exceed {ARG MAX}-2048 bytes. Within this constraint, if neither the -n nor the -s option is specified, the default command line length shall be at least {LINE MAX}. [XSI) ] ![[Option Start]]( The utility shall be executed for each non-empty number lines of arguments from standard input. The last invocation of utility shall be with fewer lines of arguments if fewer than number remain. A line is considered to end with the first unless the last character of the line is an unescaped ; a trailing unescaped signals continuation to the next non-empty line, inclusive. ![[Option End]]( The last iteration has fewer than number , but not zero, operands remaining. Invoke utility using as many standard input arguments as possible yielding a command line length less than size (a positive decimal integer) bytes. Fewer arguments shall be used if: The total number of arguments exceeds that specified by the -n option. [XSI) ] ![[Option Start]]( The total number of lines exceeds that specified by the -L option. ![[Option End]]( Enable trace mode. Each generated command line shall be written to standard error just prior to invocation. Terminate if a constructed command line will not fit in the implied or specified size (see the -s option above). Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See XBD Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.) If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables. Determine the locale for the behavior of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character collating elements used in the extended regular expression defined for the yesexpr locale keyword in the LC MESSAGES category. Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files) and the behavior of character classes used in the extended regular expression defined for the yesexpr locale keyword in the LC MESSAGES category. Determine the locale used to process affirmative responses, and the locale used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages and prompts written to standard error. [XSI) ] ![[Option Start]]( Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC MESSAGES. ![[Option End]]( A command line meeting the specified requirements could not be assembled, one or more of the invocations of utility returned a non-zero exit status, or some other error occurred. The utility specified by utility was found but could not be invoked. If a command line meeting the specified requirements cannot be assembled, the utility cannot be invoked, an invocatio