.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\"
.\"     @(#)apply.1	6.2 (Berkeley) 06/11/90
.\"
.Dd 
.Dt APPLY 1
.Os BSD 4.2
.Sh NAME
.Nm apply
.Nd apply a command to a set of arguments
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm apply
.Op Fl ac
.Op Fl n
.Ar command args ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Apply
runs the named
.Ar command
on each
argument
.Ar arg
in turn.
Normally arguments are chosen singly; the optional number
.Fl n
specifies the number of arguments to be passed to
.Ar command .
If
.Fl n
is zero,
.Ar command
is run without arguments once for each
.Ar arg
Character sequences of the form
Cx %
.Ar d
.Cx
in
.Ar command ,
where
.Ar d
is a digit from 1 to 9,
are replaced by the
.Ar d\'th
following unused
.Ar arg .
If any such sequences occur,
.Fl n
is ignored,
and the number of arguments passed to
.Ar command
is the maximum value of
.Ar d
in
.Ar command .
The character `%' may be changed by the
.Fl a
option.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.Nm apply
checks the environment variable
.Ev SHELL
to find out which shell to use.
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Ds
.Tw apply \-2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2 ...
.Tp Li apply echo a*
is similar to ls(1);
.Tp Li apply \-2 cmp a1 b1 a2 b2 ...
compares the `a' files to the `b' files;
.Tp Li apply \-0 who 1 2 3 4 5
runs who(1) 5 times; and
.Tp Li apply \(aaln %1 /usr/joe\(aa *
links all files in the current directory to the directory
.Pa /usr/joe .
.Tp
.De
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sh 1
.Sh HISTORY
.Nm Apply
appeared in 4.2BSD.
.Sh AUTHOR
Rob Pike
.Sh BUGS
Shell metacharacters in
.Ar command
may have bizarre effects; it is best to enclose complicated
commands in single quotes \(aa\ \(aa.
.Pp
There is no way to pass a literal `%2' if `%' is the
argument expansion character.