211 lines
5.7 KiB
Groff
211 lines
5.7 KiB
Groff
.\" $NetBSD: xargs.1,v 1.17 2003/08/07 11:17:49 agc Exp $
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.\"
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.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
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.\" John B. Roll Jr. and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
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.\" Engineers, Inc.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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.\" without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" @(#)xargs.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
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.\"
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.Dd December 21, 1999
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.Dt XARGS 1
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm xargs
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.Nd "construct argument list(s) and execute utility"
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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.Nm
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.Op Fl 0
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.Op Fl p
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.Op Fl t
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.Oo Op Fl x
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.Fl n Ar number
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.Oc
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.Op Fl s Ar size
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.Op Ar utility Op Ar arguments ...
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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The
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.Nm
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utility reads space, tab, newline and end-of-file delimited arguments
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from the standard input and executes the specified
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.Ar utility
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with them as arguments.
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.Pp
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The utility and any arguments specified on the command line are given
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to the
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.Ar utility
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upon each invocation, followed by some number of the arguments read
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from standard input.
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The
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.Ar utility
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is repeatedly executed until standard input is exhausted.
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.Pp
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Spaces, tabs and newlines may be embedded in arguments using single
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(``\ '\ '')
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or double (``"'') quotes or backslashes (``\e'').
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Single quotes escape all non-single quote characters, excluding newlines,
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up to the matching single quote.
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Double quotes escape all non-double quote characters, excluding newlines,
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up to the matching double quote.
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Any single character, including newlines, may be escaped by a backslash.
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.Pp
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The options are as follows:
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.Bl -tag -width Fl
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.It Fl 0
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Use NUL
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(``\e0'')
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instead of whitespace as the argument separator.
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This can be used in conjunction with the
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.Fl print0
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option of
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.Xr find 1 .
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.It Fl n Ar number
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Set the maximum number of arguments taken from standard input for each
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invocation of the utility.
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An invocation of
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.Ar utility
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will use less than
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.Ar number
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standard input arguments if the number of bytes accumulated (see the
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.Fl s
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option) exceeds the specified
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.Ar size
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or there are fewer than
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.Ar number
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arguments remaining for the last invocation of
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.Ar utility .
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The current default value for
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.Ar number
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is 5000.
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.It Fl p
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Prompt mode: immediately before each command execution the user is prompted
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whether to execute the command instance.
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If an affirmative response is read from
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.Pa /dev/tty
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the command will be executed; otherwise this particular invocation will be
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skipped.
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This option implies the
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.Fl t
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option.
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.It Fl s Ar size
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Set the maximum number of bytes for the command line length provided to
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.Ar utility .
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The sum of the length of the utility name and the arguments passed to
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.Ar utility
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(including
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.Dv NULL
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terminators) will be less than or equal to this number.
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The current default value for
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.Ar size
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is
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.Dv ARG_MAX
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- 4096.
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.It Fl t
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Echo the command to be executed to standard error immediately before it
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is executed.
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.It Fl x
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Force
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.Nm
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to terminate immediately if a command line containing
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.Ar number
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arguments will not fit in the specified (or default) command line length.
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.El
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.Pp
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If no
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.Ar utility
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is specified,
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.Xr echo 1
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is used.
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.Pp
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Undefined behavior may occur if
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.Ar utility
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reads from the standard input.
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.Pp
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The
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.Nm
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utility exits immediately (without processing any further input) if a
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command line cannot be assembled,
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.Ar utility
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cannot be invoked, an invocation of the utility is terminated by a signal
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or an invocation of the utility exits with a value of 255.
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.Sh EXIT STATUS
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.Nm
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exits with one of the following values:
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.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
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.It 0
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All invocations of
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.Ar utility
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returned a zero exit status.
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.It 123
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One or more invocations of
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.Ar utility
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returned a nonzero exit status.
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.It 124
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The
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.Ar utility
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exited with a 255 exit status.
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.It 125
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The
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.Ar utility
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was killed or stopped by a signal.
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.It 126
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The
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.Ar utility
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was found but could not be invoked.
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.It 127
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The
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.Ar utility
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could not be found.
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.It 1
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Some other error occurred.
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.El
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.Sh FILES
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.Bl -tag -width /dev/tty -compact
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.It Pa /dev/tty
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used to read responses in prompt mode
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.El
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.Sh SEE ALSO
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.Xr echo 1 ,
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.Xr find 1
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.Sh STANDARDS
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The
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.Nm
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utility is expected to be
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.St -p1003.2
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compliant.
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.Sh HISTORY
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The
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.Nm xargs
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command appeared in PWB Unix 1.0.
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It made its first BSD appearance in the 4.3 Reno release.
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.Pp
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The meaning of 123, 124, and 125 exit values and the
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.Fl 0
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option were taken from GNU xargs.
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