what is the difference between -L and -n in xargs

Question

Per xargs --help:

-L, --max-lines=MAX-LINES use at most MAX-LINES non-blank input lines per command line

-n, --max-args=MAX-ARGS use at most MAX-ARGS arguments per command line

It is very confusing. Is there any difference between -L and -n?

ls *.h | xargs -L 1 echo 
ls *.h | xargs -n 1 echo

do `touch 'the quick brown fox.h'` and try again. – dave_thompson_085 Jan 13 '17 at 01:03 — dave_thompson_085, Jan 13 '17 at 01:03
@dave_thompson_085 I see, Thanks! – camino Jan 13 '17 at 01:19 — camino, Jan 13 '17 at 01:19

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 01 '21 at 12:35

16

-n splits on any whitespace, -L splits on newlines. Examples:

$ echo {1..10}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
$ echo {1..10} | xargs -n 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
$ echo {1..10} | xargs -L 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
$ seq 10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
$ seq 10 | xargs -n 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
$ seq 10 | xargs -L 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

edited Feb 01 '21 at 12:35

Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com

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answered Apr 08 '18 at 02:12

dosentmatter

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1

`-L` is also a tiny bit less portable: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/448379/32558 – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Feb 01 '21 at 13:02
What happens when `-L` and `-n` are used simultaneously? – jII Jan 10 '22 at 20:21
3

It's in the manpage: `The -L and -n options are mutually-exclusive; the last one given will be used.` – dosentmatter Jan 10 '22 at 23:18

what is the difference between -L and -n in xargs

1 Answers1