apply - apply a command to a set of arguments
apply [-#] [-a magic] [-d] command argument [...]
apply runs the named command on each given argument in turn.
Character sequences of the form ``%d'' in command, where `d'
is a digit
from 1 to 9, are replaced by the d'th following unused
argument. In this
case, the largest digit number of arguments are discarded
for each execution
of command.
The options are as follows:
-# Normally arguments are taken singly; the optional
number -# specifies
the number of arguments to be passed to
command. If the
number is zero, command is run, without arguments,
once for each
argument.
If any sequences of ``%d'' occur in command, the -#
option is ignored.
-a magic
Use magic as the magic character instead of the default `%'.
-d Debug mode. Print commands to the standard output
but do not actually
execute them.
SHELL Pathname of shell to use. If this variable is not
defined, the
Bourne shell is used.
/bin/sh default shell
$ apply echo a*
Similar to ls(1).
$ apply -2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2 a3 b3
Compares the ``a'' files to the ``b'' files.
$ apply -0 who 1 2 3 4 5
Runs who(1) 5 times.
$ apply 'ln %1 /usr/joe' *
Links all files in the current directory to the directory
/usr/joe.
xargs(1)
The apply command appeared in 4.2BSD.
Rob Pike
Shell metacharacters in command may have bizarre effects; it
is best to
enclose complicated commands in single quotes ('').
OpenBSD 3.6 April 4, 1994
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