xargs

Pass standard input as arguments to a command.

command | xargs target-command

Use the -I option to insert input values into a placeholder {}.

command | xargs -I{} target-command {}

Use the -n option to limit the number of arguments passed at once.

command | xargs -n count target-command

Use the -P option to run in parallel.

command | xargs -P num-processes -I{} target-command {}

Handle filenames with spaces or newlines safely (-0).

find . -name "*.txt" -print0 | xargs -0 target-command

Option	Description
-I{}	Replaces {} with each input value. You can use any symbol as the placeholder.
-n count	Sets the maximum number of arguments passed to each command invocation.
-P count	Specifies the number of processes to run in parallel.
-0	Reads input delimited by null characters. Use with find -print0.
-t	Prints each command before executing it. Useful for debugging.
-p	Prompts for confirmation before each command is executed.
-r	Does not run the command if the input is empty (GNU xargs only).
-L lines	Passes the specified number of input lines as arguments per invocation.

The examples below use this directory structure.

Pass the results of find to another command via xargs. This example deletes all .log files.

find . -name "*.log" | xargs rm

If file paths may contain spaces or special characters, use -print0 with -0.

find . -name "*.log" -print0 | xargs -0 rm

Use -I{} with a placeholder to rename files one by one.

ls *.txt | xargs -I{} mv {} {}.bak

Combine find and grep to search across multiple files.

find . -name "*.php" | xargs grep -l "TODO"
./src/index.php
./src/utils.php

Use -n N to limit how many arguments are passed at once.

echo "a b c d e f" | xargs -n 2 echo
a b
c d
e f

Use -t to print each command before it runs. This is handy for debugging.

echo "file1 file2 file3" | xargs -t -n 1 echo
echo file1
file1
echo file2
file2
echo file3
file3

Use -P N to process files N at a time in parallel. This example compresses files using 4 parallel processes.

ls *.csv | xargs -P 4 -I{} gzip {}

This example downloads URLs from a list using 5 parallel processes.

cat urls.txt | xargs -P 5 -I{} wget -q {}

When file paths may contain spaces or special characters, find -print0 | xargs -0 is essential. Using null characters as delimiters lets you handle any filename safely.

The -P option makes full use of your CPU by running tasks in parallel. It is especially effective for independent tasks such as compressing, converting, or downloading multiple files. For more on pipes and redirection, see Pipe (|).