4.3BSD - /usr/man/cat1/apply.0

APPLY(1)                                                              APPLY(1)


NAME
       apply - apply a command to a set of arguments

SYNOPSIS
       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)

AUTHOR
       Rob Pike

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.


4.2 Berkeley Distribution       April 29, 1985                        APPLY(1)