Command-line tool for building and executing argument lists from standard input
Updated at: March 16, 2025
Basic Usage
xargs is a command-line utility that builds and executes commands from standard input. It reads items from standard input, delimited by blanks or newlines, and executes a command with those items as arguments.
Input Processing
xargs excels at processing input from various sources and formats. It can handle files, process input line by line, manage special characters, and transform data before execution, making it powerful for batch operations.
Command Execution Control
xargs provides powerful options to control how commands are executed, including parallelism, error handling, and execution flow. These features help optimize performance and reliability when processing large datasets.
Output Management
xargs provides various ways to control, format, and redirect the output of commands it executes. This includes redirecting output to files, suppressing output, preserving order, and handling error streams.
Advanced Argument Handling
Advanced argument handling in xargs allows precise control over how arguments are processed, positioned, and transformed before command execution. This enables handling complex data formats, special characters, and custom argument placement.
Related Cheatsheets