Commands using xargs sorted by votes

Commands using xargs (769)

sorted by

Find biggest 10 files in current and subdirectories and sort by file size
This is sample output - yours may be different.
9

find . -type f -print0 | xargs -0 du -h | sort -hr | head -10

netaxiz · 2012-06-30 10:03:31 4
Add all unversioned files to svn
This is sample output - yours may be different.
8

svn st | grep "^\?" | awk "{print \$2}" | xargs svn add $1

mk · 2009-02-05 17:28:53 31
recurisvely md5 all files in a tree

Found this little gem here: http://info.michael-simons.eu/2008/10/25/recursively-md5sum-all-files-in-a-directory-tree/
This is sample output - yours may be different.
8

find ./backup -type f -print0 | xargs -0 md5sum > /checksums_backup.md5

hooobs · 2009-02-12 19:39:12 19
Search through files, ignoring .svn

By putting the "-not $ -name .svn -prune $" in the very front of the "find" command, you eliminate the .svn directories in your find command itself. No need to grep them out. You can even create an alias for this command: alias svn_find="find . -not $ -name .svn -prune $" Now you can do things like svn_find -mtime -3
This is sample output - yours may be different.
8

find . -not $ -name .svn -prune $ -type f -print0 | xargs --null grep <searchTerm>

qazwart · 2009-07-08 20:08:05 10
backup and remove files with access time older than 5 days.

create an archive of files with access time older than 5 days, and remove original files.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
7

tar -zcvpf backup_`date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S"`.tar.gz `find <target> -atime +5` 2> /dev/null | xargs rm -fr ;

angleto · 2009-05-26 17:15:52 8
purge installed but unused linux headers, image, or modules

will purge: only installed apps: /^ii/!d avoiding current kernel stuff: /'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$.*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/d using app names: s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* $[^ ]*$.*/\1/ avoiding stuff without a version number: /[0-9]/!d
This is sample output - yours may be different.
7

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/$.*$-$[^0-9]\+$/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* $[^ ]*$.*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

plasticdoc · 2009-06-19 10:11:00 9
git remove files which have been deleted

I've used technicalpickles command a lot, but this one handles whitespaces in filenames. I'm sure you want to create an alias for it :) Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
$ git status
# On branch master
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#
#	deleted:    some file
#	deleted:    some_file
#	deleted:    somefile
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
$ git ls-files -z --deleted | xargs -0 git rm
rm 'some file'
rm 'some_file'
rm 'somefile'
```
7

git ls-files -z --deleted | xargs -0 git rm

blindgaenger · 2009-07-14 08:29:38 5
Get the size of all the directories in current directory (Sorted Human Readable)

This allows the output to be sorted from largest to smallest in human readable format.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
7

sudo du -ks $(ls -d */) | sort -nr | cut -f2 | xargs -d '\n' du -sh 2> /dev/null

Code_Bleu · 2009-08-17 22:21:09 53

This one-liner will use strace to attach to all of the currently running apache processes output and piped from the initial "ps auxw" command into some awk. Show Sample Output

This is sample output - yours may be different.

ps auxw | grep sbin/apache | awk '{print"-p " $2}' | xargs strace
Process 7313 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7395 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7396 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7397 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7398 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7399 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7401 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7403 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7448 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7468 attached - interrupt to quit
Process 7469 attached - interrupt to quit
attach: ptrace(PTRACE_ATTACH, ...): No such process
[pid  7313] select(0, NULL, NULL, NULL, {0, 48000} <unfinished ...>
[pid  7395] poll([{fd=11, events=POLLIN}, {fd=10, events=POLLIN}, {fd=9, events=POLLIN}, {fd=8, events=POLLIN}, {fd=7, events=POLLIN}, {fd=6, events=POLLIN}, {fd=5, events=POLLIN}, {fd=4, events=POLLIN}, {fd=85, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 10, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7396] semop(1572864, {{0, -1, SEM_UNDO}}, 1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7397] semop(1572864, {{0, -1, SEM_UNDO}}, 1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7398] poll([{fd=15, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7399] semop(1572864, {{0, -1, SEM_UNDO}}, 1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7401] poll([{fd=15, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7403] poll([{fd=15, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7448] poll([{fd=15, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7468] poll([{fd=15, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7469] poll([{fd=15, events=POLLIN}, {fd=19, events=POLLIN}], 2, -1 <unfinished ...>
[pid  7313] <... select resumed> )      = 0 (Timeout)
[pid  7313] gettimeofday({1300139401, 36665}, NULL) = 0
[pid  7313] waitpid(-1, 0xffdc0a68, WNOHANG|WSTOPPED) = 0
[pid  7313] select(0, NULL, NULL, NULL, {1, 0}) = 0 (Timeout)
[pid  7313] gettimeofday({1300139402, 39688}, NULL) = 0
[pid  7313] waitpid(-1, 0xffdc0a68, WNOHANG|WSTOPPED) = 0
[pid  7313] select(0, NULL, NULL, NULL, {1, 0} <unfinished ...>
Process 7313 detached
Process 7395 detached
Process 7396 detached
Process 7397 detached
Process 7398 detached
Process 7399 detached
Process 7401 detached
Process 7403 detached
Process 7448 detached
Process 7468 detached
Process 7469 detached

ps auxw | grep sbin/apache | awk '{print"-p " $2}' | xargs strace

px · 2011-03-14 21:45:22 34

Find out which debian package a command (executable) belongs to on debian-based distros

This revision to my command (command #8851) was called for when it failed to find the parent package of 'rlogin', which is really a deep symbolic link to /usr/bin/ssh. This revision fixes this newfound issue, while ensuring fixes of other older issues work too. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
$ function whichpkg(){ readlink -f "$(which $1)" | xargs --no-run-if-empty dpkg -S; }

$whichpkg rlogin
openssh-client: /usr/bin/ssh
```
7

function whichpkg() { readlink -f "$(which $1)" | xargs --no-run-if-empty dpkg -S; }

b_t · 2011-10-28 02:53:19 4
Diff 2 file struct - Useful for branch diff and jars diff(uncompressed)

This is usefull to diff 2 paths in branches of software, or in different versions of a same zip file. So you can get the real file diff. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
5469c5470
< e388cca0b1566dddf56362a223a003b1  ./META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
---
> 9dc47f8a8175dc93c4c2393ad3e09ce9  ./META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
```
7

diff <(cd A; find -type f|xargs md5sum ) <(cd B; find -type f | xargs md5sum )

glaudiston · 2013-07-02 18:02:05 9
Show the command line for a PID, converting nulls to spaces and a newline

If you cat the file, all the parts of the command line are bunched up. If you use tr to convert the nulls to spaces, you're still left without a newline unless you add another step. This command does everything for you. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
/usr/lib/postgresql/9.3/bin/postgres -D /var/lib/postgresql/9.3/main -c config_file=/etc/postgresql/9.3/main/postgresql.conf
```
7

xargs -0a /proc/27288/cmdline echo

dennisw · 2015-09-25 17:35:11 17
Find the package that installed a command
This is sample output - yours may be different.
7

whatinstalled() { which "$@" | xargs -r readlink -f | xargs -r dpkg -S ;}

pdxdoughnut · 2016-11-08 20:59:25 23
do a full file listing of every file found with locate
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

locate searchstring | xargs ls -l

pixel · 2009-02-06 00:02:35 49
a find and replace within text-based files, to locate and rewrite text en mass.

syntax follows regular command line expression. example: let's say you have a directory (with subdirs) that has say 4000 .php files. All of these files were made via script, but uh-oh, there was a typo! if the typo is "let's go jome!" but you meant it to say "let's go home!" find . -name "*.php" | xargs perl -pi -e "s/let\'s\ go\ jome\!/let\'s\ go\ home\!/g" all better :) multiline: find . -name "*.php" | xargs perl -p0777i -e 's/knownline1\nknownline2/replaced/m' indescriminate line replace: find ./ -name '*.php' | xargs perl -pi -e 's/\".*$\"/\new\ line\ content/g' Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
command will have no echo
```
6

find . -name "*.txt" | xargs perl -pi -e 's/old/new/g'

neztach · 2009-02-06 00:28:03 28
Change string in many files at once and more.

Find all files that contain string XXX in them, change the string from XXX to YYY, make a backup copy of the file and save a list of files changed in /tmp/fileschanged.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

find . -type f -exec grep -l XXX {} \;|tee /tmp/fileschanged|xargs perl -pi.bak -e 's/XXX/YYY/g'

drossman · 2009-02-16 02:55:23 59
List top ten files/directories sorted by size
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

du -sb *|sort -nr|head|awk '{print $2}'|xargs du -sh

srand · 2009-05-12 19:58:45 9
Monitor logs in Linux using Tail

Works in Ubuntu, I hope it will work on all Linux machines. For Unixes, tail should be capable of handling more than one file with '-f' option. This command line simply take log files which are text files, and not ending with a number, and it will continuously monitor those files. Putting one alias in .profile will be more useful.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

find /var/log -type f -exec file {} \; | grep 'text' | cut -d' ' -f1 | sed -e's/:$//g' | grep -v '[0-9]$' | xargs tail -f

mohan43u · 2009-06-03 09:47:08 11
Delete all but latest file in a directory

Useful for deleting old unused log files.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

ls -pt1 | sed '/.*\//d' | sed 1d | xargs rm

patko · 2009-07-29 13:59:58 7
Verbosely delete files matching specific name pattern, older than 15 days.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
6

find /backup/directory -name "FILENAME_*" -mtime +15 | xargs rm -vf

monkeymac · 2009-08-22 16:58:23 6
Find and list users who talk like "lolcats"

Greps IRC logs for phrases and lists users who said them. Show Sample Output
This is sample output - yours may be different.
```
Note to self, ban user 'aoluser'
Note to self, ban user 'msnuser'
```
5

cd ~/.purple/logs/; egrep -ri "i can haz|pwn|l33t|w00|zomg" * | cut -d'/' -f 3 | sort | uniq | xargs -I {} echo "Note to self: ban user '{}'"

rhythmx · 2009-02-05 21:23:53 20
Find 'foo' string inside files
This is sample output - yours may be different.
5

find . -type f -print | xargs grep foo

syndrael · 2009-02-13 12:22:53 14
Compress files found with find

tar options may change ;) c to compress into a tar file, z for gzip (j for bzip) man tar -print0 and -0t are usefull for names with spaces, \, etc.
This is sample output - yours may be different.
5

find ~/bin/ -name "*sh" -print0 | xargs -0t tar -zcvf foofile.tar.gz

lhb · 2009-02-17 08:48:34 8
restore the contents of a deleted file for which a descriptor is still available

Note that the file at the given path will have the contents of the (still) deleted file, but it is a new file with a new node number; in other words, this restores the data, but it does not actually "undelete" the old file. I posted a function declaration encapsulating this functionality to http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7yx6f/how_to_undelete_any_open_deleted_file_in_linux/c07sqwe (please excuse the crap formatting).
This is sample output - yours may be different.
5

N="filepath" ; P=/proc/$(lsof +L1 | grep "$N" | awk '{print $2}')/fd ; ls -l $P | sed -rn "/$N/s/.*([0-9]+) ->.*/\1/p" | xargs -I_ cat $P/_ > "$N"

laburu · 2009-02-21 02:31:24 28
for too many arguments by *

grep ERROR *.log -bash: /bin/grep: Argument list too long echo *.log | xargs grep ERROR /dev/null 20090119.00011.log:DANGEROUS ERROR
This is sample output - yours may be different.
5

echo *.log | xargs <command>

mikeda · 2009-02-22 11:32:55 7
< 1 2 3 4 > Last ›

What's this?

commandlinefu.com is the place to record those command-line gems that you return to again and again. That way others can gain from your CLI wisdom and you from theirs too. All commands can be commented on, discussed and voted up or down.

Share Your Commands

Check These Out

Ping all hosts on 192.168.1.0/24

Which processes are listening on a specific port (e.g. port 80)

swap out "80" for your port of interest. Can use port number or named ports e.g. "http"

list block devices

Shows all block devices in a tree with descruptions of what they are.

Calculate N!

Same as the seq/bc solution but without bc.

Quickly create an alias for changing into the current directory

Put the function in your .bashrc and use "map [alias]" to create the alias you want. Just be careful to not override an existing alias.

Print github url for the current url

Works for repos cloned via ssh or https.

list files recursively by size

Turns hidden applications transparent in the Mac OS X dock.

In Mac OS X, pressing Command+H will hide an application. While that application's windows vanish, there is no other visual feedback, meaning there is no immediate distinction between an application running with no windows open and a hidden application. This command turns hidden applications' icons transparent, providing a clear and obvious distinction. Change YES to NO to restore the previous functionality.

Outputs each arg on its own line

This can be useful for transforming command-line args into input for xargs (one per line). This can also be done with ls if the args are filenames, but that's getting awfully close to Useless Use of Cat territory (http://partmaps.org/era/unix/award.html).

Create QR codes from a URL.

QR codes are those funny square 2d bar codes that everyone seems to be pointing their smart phones at. Try the following... $ qrurl http://xkcd.com Then open qr.*.png in your favorite image viewer. Point your the bar code reader on your smart phone at the code, and you'll shortly be reading xkcd on your phone. URLs are not the only thing that can be encoded by QR codes... short texts (to around 2K) can be encoded this way, although this function doesn't do any URL encoding, so unless you want to do that by hand it won't be useful for that.

Stay in the loop…

Follow the Tweets.

Every new command is wrapped in a tweet and posted to Twitter. Following the stream is a great way of staying abreast of the latest commands. For the more discerning, there are Twitter accounts for commands that get a minimum of 3 and 10 votes - that way only the great commands get tweeted.

» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu3
» http://twitter.com/commandlinefu10

Subscribe to the feeds.

Use your favourite RSS aggregator to stay in touch with the latest commands. There are feeds mirroring the 3 Twitter streams as well as for virtually every other subset (users, tags, functions,…):

Subscribe to the feed for:

» all commands
» commands with 3 up-votes (commandlinefu3)
» commands with 10 up-votes (commandlinefu10)
» commands using xargs

Commands using xargs (769) the last day the last week the last month all time sorted by date votes

What's this?

Check These Out

Stay in the loop…

Commands using xargs (769)

sorted by