Re: xargs: doesn't fail on missing terminator (which may have severe consequences)

[Bernhard Voelker]

On 12/15/24 20:47, Bernhard Voelker wrote:
> `xargs -0` is similar to many tools allowing Zero-delimited input.
> And often the last entry of input does not have to be Zero-terminated.
> Here some examples from the GNU coreutils.
>
> * `sort -z`:
> * `uniq -z`:
> * `cut -z`
> * `tail -z`:

P.S. I forgot to mention another class of examples processing files from a list
of Zero-separated input: tools with the 'files0-from' option.

  $ echo hello > hello
  $ echo world > world

* `du`

  $ printf 'hello\0world' | du --files0-from=-
  4     hello
  4     world
  $ printf 'hello\0world\0' | du --files0-from=-
  4     hello
  4     world

* `wc`

  $ printf 'hello\0world' | wc --files0-from=-
  1 1 6 hello
  1 1 6 world
  2 2 12 total
  $ printf 'hello\0world\0' | wc --files0-from=-
  1 1 6 hello
  1 1 6 world
  2 2 12 total

* `sort`

  $ printf 'hello\0world' | sort --files0-from=-
  hello
  world
  $ printf 'hello\0world\0' | sort --files0-from=-
  hello
  world

* and finally GNU `find`:

  $ printf 'hello\0world' | find -files0-from -
  hello
  world
  $ printf 'hello\0world\0' | find -files0-from -
  hello
  world

Have a nice day,
Berny