I want to run "cmp" on a batch of files that fits a file pattern but I
want the return code to be displayed at the end of "cmp" processing. Is
this possible just using "xargs" as in the example below? I have tried
"cmp {} txtdir/{} ; echo \$?" but it gives a syntax error.

$ ls -1 r*.txt | xargs -t -I {} cmp {} txtdir/{}
cmp roland.txt txtdir/roland.txt
cmp roland2.txt txtdir/roland2.txt
roland2.txt txtdir/roland2.txt differ: char 1, line 1
cmp roland3.txt txtdir/roland3.txt

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2007-01-14, 01:42(-08), RolandRB:
> I want to run "cmp" on a batch of files that fits a file pattern but I
> want the return code to be displayed at the end of "cmp" processing. Is
> this possible just using "xargs" as in the example below? I have tried
> "cmp {} txtdir/{} ; echo \$?" but it gives a syntax error.
>
> $ ls -1 r*.txt | xargs -t -I {} cmp {} txtdir/{}
> cmp roland.txt txtdir/roland.txt
> cmp roland2.txt txtdir/roland2.txt
> roland2.txt txtdir/roland2.txt differ: char 1, line 1
> cmp roland3.txt txtdir/roland3.txt

You cmp may have a verbose option.

Otherwise, you'd have to have xargs call sh, so best it to do
the whole thing with the shell:

(
set -x
for f in r*.txt; do
cmp "$f" "txtdir/$f"; echo "$?"
done
)

--
Stéphane

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Stephane CHAZELAS wrote:
> 2007-01-14, 01:42(-08), RolandRB: 
>
> You cmp may have a verbose option.
>
> Otherwise, you'd have to have xargs call sh, so best it to do
> the whole thing with the shell:
>
> (
>   set -x
>   for f in r*.txt; do
>     cmp "$f" "txtdir/$f"; echo "$?"
>   done
> )
>
> --
> St=E9phane

Thanks for that. What I did in the end is write a little script named
"cmprc" ("cmp" with return code) so that I could use xargs to call it
like this.

ls -1 r*.txt | xargs -I {} cmprc {} txtdir/{}

"cmprc" echoes the return code as well as the command.

http://www.datasavantconsulting.com...e/scripts/cmprc

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