Xargs is a powerful command in Unix and Linux operating systems that allows you to execute commands on input received from standard input or from files. It is commonly used to process large amounts of data or files in a single command. In this article, we will discuss what Xargs is and how to use it with 13 examples.

First, let’s understand the basic syntax of Xargs. The general syntax for using Xargs is as follows:

xargs [options] [command]

The options can be used to specify how Xargs should behave, such as the number of arguments to pass to the command at a time. The command is the actual command that you want Xargs to execute.

Now, let’s look at some examples of how to use Xargs:

1. Basic Usage:
To use Xargs with a simple command like echo, you can run the following command:

echo “hello world” | xargs echo

This will output “hello world” as expected.

2. Read Input from File:
If you have a file containing a list of items that you want to process with Xargs, you can use the -a option:

xargs -a file.txt echo

This will read the contents of file.txt and pass each line as an argument to the echo command.

3. Use with Find:
Xargs is often used in conjunction with the find command to process files that match certain criteria:

find . -type f -name “*.txt” | xargs rm

This command will find all files with the .txt extension in the current directory and remove them.

4. Limit the Number of Arguments:
You can use the -n option to limit the number of arguments passed to the command:

seq 10 | xargs -n 3 echo

This will print the numbers 1 to 10 in groups of 3.

5. Ignore Empty Input:
If you want to ignore empty input lines, you can use the -r option:

echo “hello\n\nworld” | xargs -r echo

This will only output “hello” and “world”.

6. Use with Grep:
Xargs can also be used with grep to process files that match a certain pattern:

grep -l “pattern” *.txt | xargs rm

This will delete all files with the pattern in their content.

7. Use with Sed:
You can use Xargs with sed to perform text replacements in files:

ls *.txt | xargs sed -i ‘s/foo/bar/g’

This will replace all occurrences of “foo” with “bar” in all .txt files in the current directory.

8. Count Number of Lines:
If you want to count the number of lines in multiple files, you can use Xargs with wc -l:

ls *.txt | xargs wc -l

This will show the number of lines in each .txt file.

9. Use with Rm:
Xargs can be used with the rm command to delete multiple files at once:

ls *.log | xargs rm

This will remove all .log files in the current directory.

10. Delete Files Older Than a Certain Date:
You can use the find command along with Xargs to delete files older than a specific date:

find . -type f -mtime +30 | xargs rm

This will remove all files older than 30 days.

11. Copy Files to Another Directory:
You can use Xargs with the cp command to copy files to another directory:

find . -type f -name “*.txt” | xargs -I {} cp {} /path/to/destination

This will copy all .txt files in the current directory to the specified destination.

12. Process Output of Other Commands:
You can use Xargs to process the output of other commands as input:

seq 5 | xargs -I {} echo “Number is: {}”

This will print “Number is: 1”, “Number is: 2”, and so on.

13. Use with Parallel:
Xargs can be used with the parallel command to run multiple commands in parallel:

seq 10 | xargs -n 1 | parallel echo

This will run the echo command for each number from 1 to 10 in parallel.

In conclusion, Xargs is a versatile and powerful command-line tool that can be used to process large amounts of data or files efficiently. By understanding how to use Xargs and experimenting with different options and commands, you can streamline your workflow and automate various tasks in Unix and Linux environments.