Xargs - Revision history

Admin at 23:25, 16 July 2017

2017-07-16T23:25:50Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:25, 16 July 2017
Line 635:		Line 635:
	{{Programs}}		{{Programs}}
	{{Unix Programs}}		{{Unix Programs}}

			[[Category:Xargs]]

Admin at 16:44, 28 May 2011

2011-05-28T16:44:24Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:44, 28 May 2011
Line 632:		Line 632:


	~~[[Category:~~Programs]]
	~~[[Category:Computers]]~~		{{Programs}}
	~~[[Category:~~Unix]]		{{Unix Programs}}

Admin at 01:32, 19 May 2011

2011-05-19T01:32:29Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:32, 19 May 2011
Line 634:		Line 634:
	[[Category:Programs]]		[[Category:Programs]]
	[[Category:Computers]]		[[Category:Computers]]
			[[Category:Unix]]

Admin at 21:55, 10 April 2011

2011-04-10T21:55:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:55, 10 April 2011
Line 1:		Line 1:
			=Overview=

	xargs is a very handy command line utility that allows you to perform operations on a list. For example, you can take a list of files and tell xargs to run the "rm" command on the list to remove each file on the list. Or you can use xargs to unzip a list of files. Think of it as a quick-and-dirty way to do a bash loop like		xargs is a very handy command line utility that allows you to perform operations on a list. For example, you can take a list of files and tell xargs to run the "rm" command on the list to remove each file on the list. Or you can use xargs to unzip a list of files. Think of it as a quick-and-dirty way to do a bash loop like

Admin: /* Xargs Jujitsu */

2011-04-10T21:52:21Z

Xargs Jujitsu

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:52, 10 April 2011
Line 379:		Line 379:


	==Xargs Jujitsu==		=Xargs Jujitsu=

	===SVN===		==SVN==

	I use xargs in pipes to do some handy stuff. For example, if I am in a directory that is part of an SVN repository, I can run the command "svn status" to tell me about files that have been changed, etc.:		I use xargs in pipes to do some handy stuff. For example, if I am in a directory that is part of an SVN repository, I can run the command "svn status" to tell me about files that have been changed, etc.:
Line 439:		Line 439:
	'''REMEMBER''': before you run the "rm" command on anything, leave off the "xargs" portion, and make sure that you're slicing-and-dicing correctly (doing everything up until the awk command will just print the names of the files on which "rm" will operate).		'''REMEMBER''': before you run the "rm" command on anything, leave off the "xargs" portion, and make sure that you're slicing-and-dicing correctly (doing everything up until the awk command will just print the names of the files on which "rm" will operate).

	=== Moving Files ===		==Moving Files==

	I have a lot of audio files that all have a bunch of spaces in their names. I want to move them into the same file names, but with all of the spaces turned into underscores. I can create the list of files I want to create by running:		I have a lot of audio files that all have a bunch of spaces in their names. I want to move them into the same file names, but with all of the spaces turned into underscores. I can create the list of files I want to create by running:
Line 609:		Line 609:
	</pre>		</pre>

	Done. ~~I guess~~ this ~~was more~~ sed ~~jujitsu than~~ xargs ~~jujitsu, but the point is that you~~ can do some pretty nifty stuff with pipes and ~~things~~.		Done.

			If there were no spaces, the first section of the sed command would not be needed, and (if one wanted to perform the sed transform <code>s/A/B/g</code> (meaning, replace all occurrences, on the line/in the filename, of A with B), the command would look like this:

			<pre>
			$ find * -name "*.m4a" \| sed -e 'p;s/A/B/g' \| xargs -t -n2 mv
			</pre>

			You can do some pretty nifty stuff with pipes, and if you know a little bit of sed jujitsu.

			Thanks to [http://www.unix.com/shell-programming-scripting/148969-move-files-using-xargs.html] for the handy tip.

	=References=		=References=

Admin: /* Xargs Jujitsu */

2011-04-10T21:48:23Z

Xargs Jujitsu

Show changes

Admin at 01:22, 6 April 2011

2011-04-06T01:22:43Z

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 </pre>
-except with the flexibility to do more complex things with either the input or the output of the loop.  It has the additional advantage that it performs the command once for each argument in the list.  To understand this as an advantage, see [[wikipedia:xargs]] - the example they give is for the "rm" command, which cannot take extremely long lists of files.  To circumvent this, xargs will run the "rm" command once for each file in the list.
+except with the flexibility to do more complex things with either the input or the output of the loop.  It has the additional advantage that it performs the command once for each argument in the list.
 =Usage=
@@ Line 322: / Line 331: @@
 list_of_files
 </pre>
@@ Line 384: / Line 438: @@
 '''REMEMBER''': before you run the "rm" command on anything, leave off the "xargs" portion, and make sure that you're slicing-and-dicing correctly (doing everything up until the awk command will just print the names of the files on which "rm" will operate).
 [[Category:Programs]]
 [[Category:Computers]]

Admin: /* -I vs. -J */

2011-04-06T01:06:05Z

-I vs. -J

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:06, 6 April 2011
Line 181:		Line 181:
	</pre>		</pre>

	Each file is being processed, one ~~argument~~ at a time.		Each file is being processed, one at a time.

	Likewise:		Likewise:

Admin: /* Creating Files */

2011-04-06T01:04:10Z

Creating Files

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:04, 6 April 2011
Line 65:		Line 65:
	</pre>		</pre>

	Or, if you want to touch a bunch of files matching certain criteria. An example is if you're on a filesystem that deletes files older than X days, and you want to touch any directory that is X-1 days old, you can feed arguments to find so that it will return ~~files~~ that are X-1 days old, and then feed that to "xargs touch".		Or, if you want to touch a bunch of files matching certain criteria. An example is if you're on a filesystem that deletes files older than X days, and you want to touch any directory that is X-1 days old, you can feed arguments to find so that it will return directories that are X-1 days old, and then feed that to "xargs touch".

	===Double-Checking Xargs Commands===		===Double-Checking Xargs Commands===

Admin at 01:02, 6 April 2011

2011-04-06T01:02:49Z

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 </pre>
-It has the additional advantage that it performs the command once for each argument in the list.  To understand this as an advantage, see [[wikipedia:xargs]] - the example they give is for the "rm" command, which cannot take extremely long lists of files.  To circumvent this, xargs will run the "rm" command once for each file in the list.
+except with the flexibility to do more complex things with either the input or the output of the loop.  It has the additional advantage that it performs the command once for each argument in the list.  To understand this as an advantage, see [[wikipedia:xargs]] - the example they give is for the "rm" command, which cannot take extremely long lists of files.  To circumvent this, xargs will run the "rm" command once for each file in the list.
 =Usage=
@@ Line 123: / Line 123: @@
 <pre>
-$ $ find . -name "*.cc" -print0 | xargs -0 -I {}   cp {} /temp/
+$ $ find . -name "*.cc" -print0 | xargs -0 -I {} cp {} /temp/.
 </pre>
@@ Line 274: / Line 274: @@
 $ cat list_of_files2 | xargs -J {} echo "Hello from {}"
 Hello from {} file name one file name two file name three
 </pre>