3.3.2.4 Interspersing File Names

xargs can insert the name of the file it is processing between arguments you give for the command. Unless you also give options to limit the command size (see Limiting Command Size), this mode of operation is equivalent to find -exec (see Single File).

--replace[=replace-str]

-i[replace-str]

Replace occurrences of replace-str in the initial arguments with names read from the input. Also, unquoted blanks do not terminate arguments; instead, the input is split at newlines only. If replace-str is omitted, it defaults to {} (like for find -exec). Implies -x and -l 1. As an example, to sort each file the bills directory, leaving the output in that file name with .sorted appended, you could do:

          find bills -type f | xargs -iXX sort -o XX.sorted XX
     

The equivalent command using find -exec is:

          find bills -type f -exec sort -o '{}.sorted' '{}' ';'