This article spotlights alternative tools to xargs, a command that builds and executes command lines from standard input.
The software featured here is free and open source. All tools provide a command-line interface (CLI) unless otherwise stated.
| Alternatives to xargs | |
|---|---|
| rargs | xargs + awk with pattern matching support |
| rust-parallel | Execute commands in parallel |
| parallel | Shell tool for executing jobs in parallel |
| xjobs | Similar to xargs with enhanced support for multiprocessor machines |
Are we missing any open source alternatives to xargs? Please let us know.
All the CLI tools in this series.
| Alternatives to CLI tools |
|---|
| age // awk // bc // cal // cat // cd // chmod // cksum // cloc // cmp // compress // cp // cron // curl // cut // date // dd // df // diff // dig // du // fdisk // find // ftp // grep // gzip // hexdump // history // jq // kill // less // locate // ls // lsof // make // man // more // mv / ping // ps // psql // rename // rm // sed // split // ssh // strings // sudo // sysctl // tail // talk // tar // telnet // time // top // touch // traceroute // tree // uname // uniq // uptime // vi // watch // Wget // who // whois // xargs |
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You might consider adding wrld, it’s not been updated in years though.
We’re not going to add wrld, but thanks for your suggestion.
The AUR lists xe.
Like many entries in the AUR, xe appears as dead as a dodo.
AUR really needs a maintainer to actually remove all the detritus.
That would be one of the dullest non-paid jobs ever.
Just think of all the mundane activities that are neglected in open source projects. Things like documentation, planned user acceptance testing, proper security tests often fall by the wayside except for big projects. Yet without these essential activities, a disaster is just around the corner.
The AUR is full of garbage.
That’s true. It’s a time-sink going through AUR packages and finding out they are ancient or don’t build.
You should add xjobs as it supports I/O redirection as well as handling different jobs with different commands and different number of arguments.
Thanks Neil, that’s a good suggestion. We’ve now included xjobs in the roundup.