=head1 search terms run commands in parallel Parallel shell loops multi threading in bash xargs # TAGS: parallel | parallel processing | multicore | multiprocessor | Clustering/Distributed Networks # job control | multiple jobs | parallelization | text processing | cluster | filters # Clustering Tools | Command Line Tools | Utilities | System Administration # Bash parallel GNU parallel execution shell bash script simultaneous concurrent linux scripting run xargs ppss code.google.com/p/ppss/ @vvuksan @ychaker @ncb000gt xargs can lead to nasty surprises caused by the separator problem http://nd.gd/0t GNU Parallel http://nd.gd/0s may be better. Comments: http://nd.gd/0u http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/ http://nd.gd/0s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpaiGYxkSuQ http://nd.gd/0t http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xargs#The_separator_problem http://nd.gd/3k http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/man.html#differences_between_xargs_and_gnu_parallel http://nd.gd/po http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/man.html#example__distributing_work_to_local_and_remote_computers http://nd.gd/039 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL284C9FF2488BC6D1 If you like xargs you may love GNU Parallel: http://nd.gd/0s With GNU Parallel (http://nd.gd/0s) you can do: ls | grep jpeg | parallel mv {} {.}.jpg Watch the intro video for GNU Parallel: http://nd.gd/0s If your input file names are generated by users, you need to deal with surprising file names containing space, ', or " in the filename. xargs can give nasty surprises due to the separator problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xargs#The_separator_problem http://nd.gd/0t GNU Parallel http://nd.gd/0s may be better. @jaylyerly @stevenf xargs will bite you if file names contain space http://nd.gd/0t. Use GNU Parallel instead: http://nd.gd/0s Please repay by spreading the word about GNU Parallel to your contacts/blog/facebook/linkedin/mailing lists/user group Your use of xargs can lead to nasty surprises because of the separator problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xargs#The_separator_problem GNU Parallel http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/ does not have that problem. If you have GNU Parallel http://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/ installed you can do this: You can install GNU Parallel simply by: wget http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/parallel.git/plain/src/parallel chmod 755 parallel cp parallel sem Watch the intro videos for GNU Parallel to learn more: http://nd.gd/039 GNU Parallel also makes it possible to run small scripts. Try this: ls *.zip | parallel 'mkdir {.}; cd {.}; unzip ../{}'