piping output into middle of bash command

Question

Somewhat related to this question: Convert audio files to mp3 using ffmpeg

I want to execute a command in one line using piping in BASH.

What I am trying to do is this:

echo "Hello" | somecommand | ffmpeg -i _____ -f mp2 output.mp3 

Where the _____ is the output of somecommand. Is there any way to achieve this?

Answer 1

Try using xargs

echo "Hello" | somecommand | xargs ffmpeg -f mp2 output.mp3 -i

or

echo "Hello" | somecommand | xargs -i ffmpeg -i {} -f mp2 output.mp3

Answer 2

You can use command substitution here in the middle argument:

ffmpeg -i "$(echo 'Hello' | somecommand)" -f mp2 output.mp3