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Let's say I want to write a script that does ls with a prefix for each filename. I tried this
ls | xargs -n 1 echo prefix_ But the result was
prefix_ first_file prefix_ second_file ... How can I remove the space between the prefix and the filename? I.e. how to I make xargs put the variable after the command, without space? (Or in any other place for that matter)
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The -c flag to sh only accepts one argument while xargs is splitting the arguments on whitespace - that's why the double quoting works (one level to make it a single word for the shell, one for xargs).
The xargs command builds and executes commands provided through the standard input. It takes the input and converts it into a command argument for another command. This feature is particularly useful in file management, where xargs is used in combination with rm , cp , mkdir , and other similar commands.
Two Types of Commands Using Multiple Arguments Commands can have multiple arguments in two scenarios: All command arguments – COMMAND ARG1 ARG2 ARG3. Option arguments – for example, COMMAND -a ARG1 -b ARG2 -c ARG3.
xargs reads items from the standard input, delimited by blanks (which can be protected with double or single quotes or a backslash) or newlines, and executes the command (default is echo) one or more times with any initial-arguments followed by items read from standard input.
The solution: -I
-I lets you name your argument and put it anywhere you like. E.g.
ls | xargs -n 1 -I {} echo prefix_{} (replace {} with any string)
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