Xargs

Xargs(Q306592) is a unix command for assigning various inputs to different other unix commands.

The Natural Function Connector

This command/program is particularly useful, and relevant to programming in general, because it is a way to redirect inputs from data pipes. In other words, it is a bridge between input sources and any chosen programs that can be run at the Unix command line. While using this instruction, I realized that xargs is a way to help users experience interactive functional programming. Similar impression can be attained by watching people writing CSS (2D) or using Geometry Node (3D) in Blender. See more observations in the page on automation and data scraping.

Executing one line at a time

To execute commands for each of the line feed, use the following option:-n 1. For example:

ls | xargs -n 1 -i echo {}

Note that one must supply the -i option, so that {} can become the placeholder for content piped from the previous process.

A practical use in MediaWiki data loading

To extract the file names as filtering strings for a text file, one can refer to the following example:

ls MODULE/ | xargs -n 1 -i grep {} moduleNameDictionary.txt > selectedModule.txt

In this case, selecteModule.txt could be processed using grep UNIX command.

Accepting special separators

In certain cases, when the input data embeds separators, one needs to turn on the -0 option. For example:

ls | xargs -0 -n 1 cp {} /targetDirectory

Related Pages

Video/HOW TO USE Xargs!!! Linux Core Utils, Video/Intro to xargs, Video/Xargs Should Be In Your Command Line Toolbag, Video/all about xargs ! (beginner - intermediate) anthony explains, Xargs