


      APPLY(1)                    (bsd 4.2)                    APPLY(1)



      NAME
           apply - apply a command to a set of arguments

      SYNTAX
           apply [ -ac ] [ -n ] command args ...

      DESCRIPTION
           Apply runs the named command on each argument arg in turn.
           Normally arguments are chosen singly; the optional number n
           specifies the number of arguments to be passed to command.
           If n is zero, command is run without arguments once for each
           arg. Character sequences of the form %d in command, where d
           is a digit from 1 to 9, are replaced by the d'th following
           unused arg. If any such sequences occur, n is ignored, and
           the number of arguments passed to command is the maximum
           value of d in command. The character `%' may be changed by
           the -a option.

           Examples:
                apply echo *
           is similar to ls(1);
                apply -2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2 ...
           compares the `a' files to the `b' files;
                apply -0 who 1 2 3 4 5
           runs who(1) 5 times; and
                apply 'ln %1 /usr/joe' *
           links all files in the current directory to the directory
           /usr/joe.

      SEE ALSO
           sh(1)

      BUGS
           Shell metacharacters in command may have bizarre effects; it
           is best to enclose complicated commands in single quotes
           ' '.

           There is no way to pass a literal `%2' if `%' is the
           argument expansion character.
















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