Maximum Length of a UNIX ksh/csh Command Line

[Zinky]

We're used to contructs like:

ARGS=`somecommand_that_creates_a_list`
unixcommand $ARGS

ARGS can potentially contain a list that is 1MB long...

So what are the KSH/CSH Maximums then?

[OldSchool · Accepted solution]

I believe you will find they conform to ARG_MAX in limits.h -or-
getconf ARG_MAX. something like 2,048,000

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

the usual answer: it depends ...

At Solaris there is a ARG_MAX #define in limits.h - probably a kernel parameter is available for this at HP-UX.

The best would be to change your construct to

somecommand_that_creates_a_list |
xargs unixcommand

mfG Peter
PS: Spaces in filenames are NOT handled gracefully by xargs.

[Sandman!]

It's 2Mb as given by the following command:

# getconf ARG_MAX

[Ivan Krastev]

From "man sysconf" : LINE_MAX _SC_LINE_MAX
Maximum number of bytes in an input line (including the newline) for POSIX.2 utilities.


#getconf LINE_MAX
2048


regards,
ivan

[Zinky]

Thanks y'all