par - parallel command processing

par [-diqx] [c -c command] [c -l logfile] [c -nc #] file [file...]

par takes a list of files to run a command on. The first line of each file begins with a colon (:) or a pound-sign (#). If a colon, the remainder of the line is a command to run for each of the subsequent lines. If a pound-sign, then each subsequent line is a (self-contained) command, unless the -c option was specified, in which case it operates as if the argument to -c had followed a colon on the first line.

In each of the cases where the lines of the file following the first are not commands (i.e.: colon or -c), instances of open-close braces ({}) in the command will be replaced by these values.

For example, a inputfile whose contents is: : echo {}

a

b

c run with par like so: %par -q inputfile will produce the following output (order will vary): b

a

c

The command-line options are as follows:

-c

Command to be run on each of the arguments following the command-line options, where the first line of the input file(s) begins with a pound-sign (#).

-d

Print debugging information on standard error (stderr).

-i

Run commands interactively through (multiple) xterm(1) processes.

-l

Prefix of logfile name, as in prefix.N where N is the par process number ([0..]). Default: par.log.<time>.[0..]

-n

Number of simultaneous processes. Default: 3

-q

Quiet mode. Do not log anything. -q is mutually exclusive with the -x and -l options and the option appearing last will take precedence.

-x

View par logs in real-time via an xterm(1).

par.log.T.N Log file; where T is the current time in seconds since the
epoch and N is the par process number ([0..]).