1APPLY(1) General Commands Manual APPLY(1)
2
6 apply - apply a command to a set of arguments
7
9 apply [ -ac ] [ -n ] command args ...
10
12 Apply runs the named command on each argument arg in turn. Normally
13 arguments are chosen singly; the optional number n specifies the number
14 of arguments to be passed to command. If n is zero, command is run
15 without arguments once for each arg. Character sequences of the form
16 %d in command, where d is a digit from 1 to 9, are replaced by the d'th
17 following unused arg. If any such sequences occur, n is ignored, and
18 the number of arguments passed to command is the maximum value of d in
19 command. The character `%' may be changed by the -a option.
20 Examples:
22 apply echo *
23 is similar to ls(1);
24 apply -2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2 ...
25 compares the `a' files to the `b' files;
26 apply -0 who 1 2 3 4 5
27 runs who(1) 5 times; and
28 apply ´ln %1 /usr/joe´ *
29 links all files in the current directory to the directory /usr/joe.
30
32 sh(1)
33
35 Rob Pike
36
38 Shell metacharacters in command may have bizarre effects; it is best to
39 enclose complicated commands in single quotes ´ ´.
40 There is no way to pass a literal `%2' if `%' is the argument expansion
42 character.
434.2 Berkeley Distribution April 29, 1985 APPLY(1)