apply(1)                                                 apply(1)



NAME
     apply - passes its arguments in batches to a command that is
     run once per every batch

SYNOPSIS
     apply [-aesc-char] [-args-per-batch] command argument...

ARGUMENTS
     -aesc-char
          Specifies the escape character that can change the
          interpretation of argument.  The default is the percent
          sign (%).  See the ``Description'' section for
          information about how the argument selector works.

     argument
          Specifies an argument to be passed to command.  You
          should specify a multiple of the number of arguments
          that are needed to run command successfully once.

     command
          Specifies the command that apply is to run.

     -args-per-batch
          Specifies the number of arguments to pass from the
          apply command line to command each time apply runs the
          command.  If you do not use this option, apply passes
          one argument at a time.  If the value of args-per-batch
          is 0, apply runs command once for each arg but does not
          pass arg to command.

DESCRIPTION
     apply runs a command enough times to use up the arguments
     specified on the apply command line.

     An argument-selector is part of a command and has the form
     %d, where d is a digit from 1 to 9.  The apply command
     replaces the argument-selector with the next digit argument
     and runs the command.  If an argument-selector is present in
     command, apply ignores the -args-per-batch option, if
     provided.  To avoid an error message when the arguments are
     exhausted, you need to make the number of arguments on the
     apply command line a multiple of d.  See the third example
     in the next section for a way to use an argument-selector.

EXAMPLES
     The first example of the apply command uses cmp to compare
     the a files to the b files. The -2 option causes apply to
     take arguments in sets of two from the apply command line
     and use them to run cmp until the arguments are exhausted.

        apply -2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2




January 1992                                                    1

apply(1)                                                 apply(1)



     The second example shows what happens when the -n option is
     set to 0. Five arguments appear after the who command, so
     apply runs the who command five times, but it does not pass
     the arguments to who because n is 0.

        apply -0 who a 2 c 4 e

     The third example shows the use of an argument-selector.
     This command creates a link in the directory /usr/mcfong
     between each file in the current directory:

        apply 'ln %1 /usr/mcfong' *

     If the argument-selector were %3, the apply command would
     run ln for every third filename expanded by the shell.  If
     the total number of expanded filenames were not a multiple
     of 3, apply would run ln for every third filename and
     display an error message when it could not get the next
     argument that is a multiple of 3.

LIMITATIONS
     Shell metacharacters in command may have bizarre effects.
     You should enclose complicated commands in single quotation
     marks (').

     You cannot pass a literal %2 if % is the argument-selector
     character.

FILES
     /usr/ucb/apply
          Executable file

SEE ALSO
     csh(1), ksh(1), sh(1), xargs(1)





















2                                                    January 1992