Do I need "| xargs -n 1" to get around xargs' -I side-effect? I was suprised to discover this: $ echo 1 2 3 4 5 | xargs -n 1 echo 1 2 3 4 5 $ echo 1 2 3 4 5 | xargs -n 1 -I FOO echo FOO 1 2 3 4 5 That is, using the `-I` flag has this side effect: > Also, unquoted blanks do not terminate input items; instead the separator is the newline character. So the workaround I see is: $ echo 1 2 3 4 5 | xargs -n 1 | xargs -n 1 -I FOO echo FOO 1 2 3 4 5 Is there a better workaround? My actual command line looks like this: echo 102DRIFT 103DRIFT 104DRIFT 105DRIFT | xargs -n 1 | xargs -n 1 -I _DIR_ python process.py /SDcard/DCIM/_DIR_/ MyTrace.gpx 10 (Ubuntu Trusty if relevant.)

With GNU xargs, you can use `-d` option:


$ echo 1 2 3 4 5 | xargs -n 1 -d" " -I FOO echo FOO
1
2
3
4
5