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xargs — Execute a command with piped arguments coming from another command, a file, etc. The input is treate

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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Problem

How to use the xargs command: Execute a command with piped arguments coming from another command, a file, etc. The input is treated as a single block of text and split into separate pieces on spaces, tabs, newlines, and end-of-file. See also: parallel. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/manual/html_mono/find.html#Invoking-xargs>.

Solution

xargs — Execute a command with piped arguments coming from another command, a file, etc. The input is treated as a single block of text and split into separate pieces on spaces, tabs, newlines, and end-of-file. See also: parallel. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/manual/html_mono/find.html#Invoking-xargs>.

Run a command using the input data as arguments:

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{command}}

Run multiple chained commands on the input data:

{{arguments_source}} | xargs sh -c "{{command1}} && {{command2}} | {{command3}}"

Gzip all files with .log extension taking advantage of multiple threads (-print0 uses a null character to split file names and --null uses it as delimiter):

find . -name '*.log' -print0 | xargs {{[-0|--null]}} {{[-P|--max-procs]}} {{4}} {{[-n|--max-args]}} 1 gzip

Execute the command once per argument:

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-n|--max-args]}} 1 {{command}}

Execute the command once for each input line, replacing any occurrences of the placeholder (here marked as _) with the input line:

{{arguments_source}} | xargs -I _ {{command}} _ {{optional_extra_arguments}}

Parallel runs of 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:

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-P|--max-procs]}} {{max-procs}} {{command}}

Prompt user for confirmation before executing command (confirm with y or Y):

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-p|--interactive]}} {{command}}

Allow the command to access the terminal for interactive input:

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-o|--open-tty]}} {{command}}

Code Snippets

Run a command using the input data as arguments

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{command}}

Run multiple chained commands on the input data

{{arguments_source}} | xargs sh -c "{{command1}} && {{command2}} | {{command3}}"

Gzip all files with `.log` extension taking advantage of multiple threads (`-print0` uses a null character to split file names and `--null` uses it as delimiter)

find . -name '*.log' -print0 | xargs {{[-0|--null]}} {{[-P|--max-procs]}} {{4}} {{[-n|--max-args]}} 1 gzip

Execute the command once per argument

{{arguments_source}} | xargs {{[-n|--max-args]}} 1 {{command}}

Execute the command once for each input line, replacing any occurrences of the placeholder (here marked as `_`) with the input line

{{arguments_source}} | xargs -I _ {{command}} _ {{optional_extra_arguments}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/xargs

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