Xargs string interpolation, not by inserting a space

Question

I want to repeat

touch ../template/filename

where filename comes from find. I want xargs to apply the touch operation, but I dont want it to insert a space like it usually does which derives into:

touch ../template/ filename

Here is my incomplete command. How Do I complete it?

find *.html | xargs touch ../template/WHAT-NOW

Answer 1

find -name "*.html" | xargs -d"\n" -I"{}" touch ../template/{}

find -name "*.html" -exec touch ../template/{} \;

Note that find *.html is wrong, since wildcards are expanded before command execution.

Answer 2

This is easier to write as a shell loop. For instance, in C shell you might write:

foreach i (`find -name "*.html"`)
   touch ../template/$i
end

And here it is in bash:

for i in `find -name "*.html"`
do
   touch ../template/$i
done

And in my Hamilton C shell (full disclosure: I'm the author), I added a "..." wildcard to tree-walk, so you could write:

foreach i (.../*.html)
   touch ../template/$i
end

Answer 3

Consider using GNU Parallel instead. That way you avoid nasty surprises if the filenames contain space ' or ":

find *.html | parallel -X touch ../template/{/}

See the intro videos to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL284C9FF2488BC6D1