From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
From: "Douglas A. Gwyn" <DAGwyn@null.net>
Message-ID: <3BC3CCAD.32DA6F6E@null.net>
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References: <20011008165233.9D1FC199F3@mail.cse.psu.edu>, <9pspio$m4b$1@inputplus.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Plan 9 annoyances (was: Re: [9fans] mv vs cp)
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 08:56:43 +0000
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 03f9e900-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025

Ralph Corderoy wrote:
> Isn't the problem the argv limits of number of characters and number of
> words?

There are several problems with traditional xargs.
The main one is that it doesn't properly quote the arguments,
so if there are embedded special characters the invoked
command gets bogus arguments.  (I usually encounter this in
one of the font directories where files are named after the
characters.)

8th Edition UNIX had an "apply" utility that was pretty
much the same thing.  Something of the sort is an important
tool to have in the utility toolkit.