ARGS 8/25/80 ARGS NAME args - use standard input as arguments for command SYNOPSIS args [-v] tool [arguments] DESCRIPTION args reads the standard input file and concatenates the words found there onto the arguments passed to args. It then spawns the tool "tool" with those arguments. The first argument to args which does not start with a "-" is taken to be the name of the tool to be invoked. args uses the same search path as the shell, and if "tool" is a script file, a copy of the shell will be spawned reading that file for its commands. The optional -v argument causes args to display the final command line on ERROUT before spawning the sub-process. The most common use of args is as a form of argument explosion, as in the following example: Suppose the user wishes to delete all files which have the string "tst" somewhere in the filename. This may be accomplished with the following shell command line: % ls tst | args rm -v All of the files matching the pattern "tst" will be fed to args, which will concatenate the names onto rm's command line. rm will then be spawned, and will print the name of each file as it is deleted. If the information found on standard input is so voluminous as to cause the argument string to be too large, the command line is displayed on ERROUT and the process is NOT spawned. This prevents the user from being destroyed by his/her indescretion. FILES none SEE ALSO sh - command line interpreter (for search path rules) AUTHOR args was written by Joe Sventek -1- ARGS 8/25/80 ARGS BUGS/DEFICIENCIES -2-