Limitations on a command line

[David Collier]

In article <F4AC465B29B61A4FA792A4E6FEA8A2020160C2F9 at wamxm01.ciena.com>,
jcathey at ciena.com (Cathey, Jim) wrote:

> *From:* "Cathey, Jim" <jcathey at ciena.com>
> *To:* <from_busybox_maillist at dexdyne.com>, <busybox at busybox.net>
> *CC:* <jeredb at dexdyne.com>
> *Date:* Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:41:48 -0800
> 
> >I have some rubbish code I've inherited and don't have time to 
> rewrite,
> >which can spit out
> >
> >   tar file1 file2 file3.... 
> >   
> >where each of the file names is up to 100 chars, and there could 
> be up
> to
> >2000 of them in theory.
> 
> This is what xargs is for.  (Hint: use tar -r)
> 
> 	find glop | xargs -r tar -r archive
> 
> or maybe:
> 
> 	<big-assed-file xargs -r tar -r archive
> 
> Xargs' main job is to ensure that command lines don't end up 'too 
> big',
> assuming that the command can still work if split up some.
> 
> -- Jim
 
Oh TVM - so I can assume xargs chops things into chunks that suit the
system it's running on without me needing to be aware of the limits

goodee.

David