APPLY(1)                   OpenBSD Reference Manual                   APPLY(1)

NAME
     apply - apply a command to a set of arguments

SYNOPSIS
     apply [-#] [-a magic] [-d] command argument [...]

DESCRIPTION
     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 execu-
     tion of command.

     The options are as follows:

     -#      Normally arguments are taken singly; the optional number -# spec-
             ifies 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 ig-
             nored.

     -a magic
             Use magic as the magic character instead of the default `%'.

     -d      Debug mode.  Print commands to the standard output but do not ac-
             tually execute them.

EXAMPLES
     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.

ENVIRONMENT
     SHELL  Pathname of shell to use.  If this variable is not defined, the
            Bourne shell is used.

FILES
     /bin/sh  default shell

SEE ALSO
     xargs(1)

AUTHORS
     Rob Pike

HISTORY
     The apply command appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
     Shell metacharacters in command may have bizarre effects; it is best to
     enclose complicated commands in single quotes ('').

OpenBSD 3.0                      April 4, 1994                               2
