apply(1)apply(1)NAMEapply - Applies a command to a set of arguments
SYNOPSISapply [-acharacter] [-number] command argument...
The apply command runs the specified command on each argument in turn.
OPTIONS
Identifies the character used instead of the % (percent sign) to desig‐
nate argument substitution strings. Specifies the number of arguments
to be passed to command.
DESCRIPTION
Normally, arguments are chosen individually; the optional number speci‐
fies the number of arguments to be passed to command. If number is 0
(zero), command is run without arguments once for each argument.
If you include character sequences of the form %n (where n is a digit
from 1 to 9) in command, they are replaced by the nth unused argument
following command when command is executed. If any such sequences
occur, number is ignored, and the number of arguments passed to command
is the maximum value of n in command.
You can specify a character other than % (percent sign) to designate
argument substitution character strings with the -a option; for exam‐
ple, -a@ would indicate that the sequences @1 and @2 were to be
replaced by the first and second unused arguments following command.
NOTES
Shell metacharacters in command may have undesirable effects; it is
best to enclose complicated commands in ' ' (single quotes).
There is no way to pass a % (percent sign) followed immediately by any
number if % is the argument expansion character.
EXAMPLES
The following command is similar to ls: apply echo * The following com‐
mand compares the file a1 to the file b1, a2 to b2, and so on: apply-2
cmp a1 b1 a2 b2 ... The following command runs who 5 times: apply-0
who 1 2 3 4 5 The following command links all files in the current
directory to the directory /usr/joe: apply 'ln %1 /usr/joe' *
SEE ALSO
Commands: sh(1), xargs(1)apply(1)