Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 19:24:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Peter Leftwich <Hostmaster@Video2Video.Com> To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> Cc: FreeBSD LIST <FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.Org> Subject: Re: no xargs -i flag Message-ID: <20020925192127.U17635-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net> In-Reply-To: <20020924232046.GD28112@hades.hell.gr>
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On Wed, 25 Sep 2002, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > On 2002-09-24 18:48, Peter Leftwich <Hostmaster@Video2Video.Com> wrote: > > I'm surprised that xargs has no flag for interactive mode (-i) so that the > > command line will be echoed to the terminal asking [y/n/!] where y means yes > > proceed and n means no stop now and ! would mean answer y to all remaining > > promptings. > So, what would you do when a thousand files are piped to xargs? :) > Write 'yes' a thousand times? > Giorgos. First of all, the user would need only hit y or n -- not write out yes. Second of all, the user could press '!' meaning to answer yes to all future prompts (this is similar to search/replace in emacs, if you are familiar). Third of all, I am surprised there is a third-of-all but here it is: anyone working with a thousand files would probably be at a level of expertise where they would not use the "-i" flag, and even if they did, xargs could have been compiled such that it only shows the command line about to be executed. The user cannot use "-n 1" and "-i" both; the "-i" flag would only be for single-line commands. Do you follow my logic? -- Peter Leftwich President & Founder Video2Video Services Box 13692, La Jolla, CA, 92039 USA +1-413-403-9555 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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