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echoxargs

xargs lines containing -e and -n processed differently

When running the following command with xargs (GNU findutils) 4.7.0

xargs -n1 <<<"-d -e -n -o"

I get this output

-d

-o

Why is -e and -n not present in the output?

Solution

  • From man xargs:

    [...] and executes the command (default is /bin/echo) [...]

    So it runs:

    echo -d
echo -e
echo -n
echo -o

    But from man echo:

    -n     do not output the trailing newline

-e     enable interpretation of backslash escapes

    And echo -n outputs nothing, and echo -e outputs one empty newlines that you see in the output.