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parallel_tutorial (7)

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parallel_tutorial - Man page for 'parallel_tutorial' in section 7

Synopsis

Please see following description for synopsis

Description

PARALLEL_TUTORIAL(7)               parallel               PARALLEL_TUTORIAL(7)



GNU Parallel Tutorial
       This tutorial shows off much of GNU parallel's functionality. The
       tutorial is meant to learn the options in and syntax of GNU parallel.
       The tutorial is not to show realistic examples from the real world.

   Reader's guide
       If you prefer reading a book buy GNU Parallel 2018 at
       https://www.lulu.com/shop/ole-tange/gnu-parallel-2018/paperback/product-23558902.html
       or download it at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1146014

       Otherwise start by watching the intro videos for a quick introduction:
       https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL284C9FF2488BC6D1

       Then browse through the EXAMPLEs after the list of OPTIONS in man
       parallel (Use LESS=+/EXAMPLE: man parallel). That will give you an idea
       of what GNU parallel is capable of.

       If you want to dive even deeper: spend a couple of hours walking
       through the tutorial (man parallel_tutorial). Your command line will
       love you for it.

       Finally you may want to look at the rest of the manual (man parallel)
       if you have special needs not already covered.

       If you want to know the design decisions behind GNU parallel, try: man
       parallel_design. This is also a good intro if you intend to change GNU
       parallel.

Prerequisites
       To run this tutorial you must have the following:

       parallel >= version 20160822
                Install the newest version using your package manager
                (recommended for security reasons), the way described in
                README, or with this command:

                  $ (wget -O - pi.dk/3 || lynx -source pi.dk/3 || curl pi.dk/3/ || \
                     fetch -o - http://pi.dk/3 ) > install.sh
                  $ sha1sum install.sh
                  12345678 3374ec53 bacb199b 245af2dd a86df6c9
                  $ md5sum install.sh
                  029a9ac0 6e8b5bc6 052eac57 b2c3c9ca
                  $ sha512sum install.sh
                  40f53af6 9e20dae5 713ba06c f517006d 9897747b ed8a4694 b1acba1b 1464beb4
                  60055629 3f2356f3 3e9c4e3c 76e3f3af a9db4b32 bd33322b 975696fc e6b23cfb
                  $ bash install.sh

                This will also install the newest version of the tutorial
                which you can see by running this:

                  man parallel_tutorial

                Most of the tutorial will work on older versions, too.

       abc-file:
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  parallel -k echo ::: A B C > abc-file

       def-file:
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  parallel -k echo ::: D E F > def-file

       abc0-file:
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'printf "A\0B\0C\0"' > abc0-file

       abc_-file:
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'printf "A_B_C_"' > abc_-file

       tsv-file.tsv
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'printf "f1\tf2\nA\tB\nC\tD\n"' > tsv-file.tsv

       num8     The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'for(1..8){print "$_\n"}' > num8

       num128   The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'for(1..128){print "$_\n"}' > num128

       num30000 The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'for(1..30000){print "$_\n"}' > num30000

       num1000000
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'for(1..1000000){print "$_\n"}' > num1000000

       num_%header
                The file can be generated by this command:

                  (echo %head1; echo %head2; \
                   perl -e 'for(1..10){print "$_\n"}') > num_%header

       fixedlen The file can be generated by this command:

                  perl -e 'print "HHHHAAABBBCCC"' > fixedlen

       For remote running: ssh login on 2 servers with no password in $SERVER1
       and $SERVER2 must work.
                  SERVER1=server.example.com
                  SERVER2=server2.example.net

                So you must be able to do this without entering a password:

                  ssh $SERVER1 echo works
                  ssh $SERVER2 echo works

                It can be setup by running 'ssh-keygen -t dsa; ssh-copy-id
                $SERVER1' and using an empty passphrase, or you can use ssh-
                agent.

Input sources
       GNU parallel reads input from input sources. These can be files, the
       command line, and stdin (standard input or a pipe).

   A single input source
       Input can be read from the command line:

         parallel echo ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different because the jobs are run in
       parallel):

         A
         B
         C

       The input source can be a file:

         parallel -a abc-file echo

       Output: Same as above.

       STDIN (standard input) can be the input source:

         cat abc-file | parallel echo

       Output: Same as above.

   Multiple input sources
       GNU parallel can take multiple input sources given on the command line.
       GNU parallel then generates all combinations of the input sources:

         parallel echo ::: A B C ::: D E F

       Output (the order may be different):

         A D
         A E
         A F
         B D
         B E
         B F
         C D
         C E
         C F

       The input sources can be files:

         parallel -a abc-file -a def-file echo

       Output: Same as above.

       STDIN (standard input) can be one of the input sources using -:

         cat abc-file | parallel -a - -a def-file echo

       Output: Same as above.

       Instead of -a files can be given after :::::

         cat abc-file | parallel echo :::: - def-file

       Output: Same as above.

       ::: and :::: can be mixed:

         parallel echo ::: A B C :::: def-file

       Output: Same as above.

       Linking arguments from input sources

       With --link you can link the input sources and get one argument from
       each input source:

         parallel --link echo ::: A B C ::: D E F

       Output (the order may be different):

         A D
         B E
         C F

       If one of the input sources is too short, its values will wrap:

         parallel --link echo ::: A B C D E ::: F G

       Output (the order may be different):

         A F
         B G
         C F
         D G
         E F

       For more flexible linking you can use :::+ and ::::+. They work like
       ::: and :::: except they link the previous input source to this input
       source.

       This will link ABC to GHI:

         parallel echo :::: abc-file :::+ G H I :::: def-file

       Output (the order may be different):

         A G D
         A G E
         A G F
         B H D
         B H E
         B H F
         C I D
         C I E
         C I F

       This will link GHI to DEF:

         parallel echo :::: abc-file ::: G H I ::::+ def-file

       Output (the order may be different):

         A G D
         A H E
         A I F
         B G D
         B H E
         B I F
         C G D
         C H E
         C I F

       If one of the input sources is too short when using :::+ or ::::+, the
       rest will be ignored:

         parallel echo ::: A B C D E :::+ F G

       Output (the order may be different):

         A F
         B G

   Changing the argument separator.
       GNU parallel can use other separators than ::: or ::::. This is
       typically useful if ::: or :::: is used in the command to run:

         parallel --arg-sep ,, echo ,, A B C :::: def-file

       Output (the order may be different):

         A D
         A E
         A F
         B D
         B E
         B F
         C D
         C E
         C F

       Changing the argument file separator:

         parallel --arg-file-sep // echo ::: A B C // def-file

       Output: Same as above.

   Changing the argument delimiter
       GNU parallel will normally treat a full line as a single argument: It
       uses \n as argument delimiter. This can be changed with -d:

         parallel -d _ echo :::: abc_-file

       Output (the order may be different):

         A
         B
         C

       NUL can be given as \0:

         parallel -d '\0' echo :::: abc0-file

       Output: Same as above.

       A shorthand for -d '\0' is -0 (this will often be used to read files
       from find ... -print0):

         parallel -0 echo :::: abc0-file

       Output: Same as above.

   End-of-file value for input source
       GNU parallel can stop reading when it encounters a certain value:

         parallel -E stop echo ::: A B stop C D

       Output:

         A
         B

   Skipping empty lines
       Using --no-run-if-empty GNU parallel will skip empty lines.

         (echo 1; echo; echo 2) | parallel --no-run-if-empty echo

       Output:

         1
         2

Building the command line
   No command means arguments are commands
       If no command is given after parallel the arguments themselves are
       treated as commands:

         parallel ::: ls 'echo foo' pwd

       Output (the order may be different):

         [list of files in current dir]
         foo
         [/path/to/current/working/dir]

       The command can be a script, a binary or a Bash function if the
       function is exported using export -f:

         # Only works in Bash
         my_func() {
           echo in my_func $1
         }
         export -f my_func
         parallel my_func ::: 1 2 3

       Output (the order may be different):

         in my_func 1
         in my_func 2
         in my_func 3

   Replacement strings
       The 7 predefined replacement strings

       GNU parallel has several replacement strings. If no replacement strings
       are used the default is to append {}:

         parallel echo ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A/B.C

       The default replacement string is {}:

         parallel echo {} ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A/B.C

       The replacement string {.} removes the extension:

         parallel echo {.} ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A/B

       The replacement string {/} removes the path:

         parallel echo {/} ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         B.C

       The replacement string {//} keeps only the path:

         parallel echo {//} ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A

       The replacement string {/.} removes the path and the extension:

         parallel echo {/.} ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         B

       The replacement string {#} gives the job number:

         parallel echo {#} ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different):

         1
         2
         3

       The replacement string {%} gives the job slot number (between 1 and
       number of jobs to run in parallel):

         parallel -j 2 echo {%} ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different and 1 and 2 may be swapped):

         1
         2
         1

       Changing the replacement strings

       The replacement string {} can be changed with -I:

         parallel -I ,, echo ,, ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A/B.C

       The replacement string {.} can be changed with --extensionreplace:

         parallel --extensionreplace ,, echo ,, ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A/B

       The replacement string {/} can be replaced with --basenamereplace:

         parallel --basenamereplace ,, echo ,, ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         B.C

       The replacement string {//} can be changed with --dirnamereplace:

         parallel --dirnamereplace ,, echo ,, ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         A

       The replacement string {/.} can be changed with
       --basenameextensionreplace:

         parallel --basenameextensionreplace ,, echo ,, ::: A/B.C

       Output:

         B

       The replacement string {#} can be changed with --seqreplace:

         parallel --seqreplace ,, echo ,, ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different):

         1
         2
         3

       The replacement string {%} can be changed with --slotreplace:

         parallel -j2 --slotreplace ,, echo ,, ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different and 1 and 2 may be swapped):

         1
         2
         1

       Perl expression replacement string

       When predefined replacement strings are not flexible enough a perl
       expression can be used instead. One example is to remove two
       extensions: foo.tar.gz becomes foo

         parallel echo '{= s:\.[^.]+$::;s:\.[^.]+$::; =}' ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output:

         foo

       In {= =} you can access all of GNU parallel's internal functions and
       variables. A few are worth mentioning.

       total_jobs() returns the total number of jobs:

         parallel echo Job {#} of {= '$_=total_jobs()' =} ::: {1..5}

       Output:

         Job 1 of 5
         Job 2 of 5
         Job 3 of 5
         Job 4 of 5
         Job 5 of 5

       Q(...) shell quotes the string:

         parallel echo {} shell quoted is {= '$_=Q($_)' =} ::: '*/!#$'

       Output:

         */!#$ shell quoted is \*/\!\#\$

       skip() skips the job:

         parallel echo {= 'if($_==3) { skip() }' =} ::: {1..5}

       Output:

         1
         2
         4
         5

       @arg contains the input source variables:

         parallel echo {= 'if($arg[1]==$arg[2]) { skip() }' =} \
           ::: {1..3} ::: {1..3}

       Output:

         1 2
         1 3
         2 1
         2 3
         3 1
         3 2

       If the strings {= and =} cause problems they can be replaced with
       --parens:

         parallel --parens ,,,, echo ',, s:\.[^.]+$::;s:\.[^.]+$::; ,,' \
           ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output:

         foo

       To define a shorthand replacement string use --rpl:

         parallel --rpl '.. s:\.[^.]+$::;s:\.[^.]+$::;' echo '..' \
           ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output: Same as above.

       If the shorthand starts with { it can be used as a positional
       replacement string, too:

         parallel --rpl '{..} s:\.[^.]+$::;s:\.[^.]+$::;' echo '{..}'
           ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output: Same as above.

       If the shorthand contains matching parenthesis the replacement string
       becomes a dynamic replacement string and the string in the parenthesis
       can be accessed as $$1. If there are multiple matching parenthesis, the
       matched strings can be accessed using $$2, $$3 and so on.

       You can think of this as giving arguments to the replacement string.
       Here we give the argument .tar.gz to the replacement string {%string}
       which removes string:

         parallel --rpl '{%(.+?)} s/$$1$//;' echo {%.tar.gz}.zip ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output:

         foo.zip

       Here we give the two arguments tar.gz and zip to the replacement string
       {/string1/string2} which replaces string1 with string2:

         parallel --rpl '{/(.+?)/(.*?)} s/$$1/$$2/;' echo {/tar.gz/zip} \
           ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output:

         foo.zip

       GNU parallel's 7 replacement strings are implemented as this:

         --rpl '{} '
         --rpl '{#} $_=$job->seq()'
         --rpl '{%} $_=$job->slot()'
         --rpl '{/} s:.*/::'
         --rpl '{//} $Global::use{"File::Basename"} ||=
                  eval "use File::Basename; 1;"; $_ = dirname($_);'
         --rpl '{/.} s:.*/::; s:\.[^/.]+$::;'
         --rpl '{.} s:\.[^/.]+$::'

       Positional replacement strings

       With multiple input sources the argument from the individual input
       sources can be accessed with {number}:

         parallel echo {1} and {2} ::: A B ::: C D

       Output (the order may be different):

         A and C
         A and D
         B and C
         B and D

       The positional replacement strings can also be modified using /, //,
       /., and  .:

         parallel echo /={1/} //={1//} /.={1/.} .={1.} ::: A/B.C D/E.F

       Output (the order may be different):

         /=B.C //=A /.=B .=A/B
         /=E.F //=D /.=E .=D/E

       If a position is negative, it will refer to the input source counted
       from behind:

         parallel echo 1={1} 2={2} 3={3} -1={-1} -2={-2} -3={-3} \
           ::: A B ::: C D ::: E F

       Output (the order may be different):

         1=A 2=C 3=E -1=E -2=C -3=A
         1=A 2=C 3=F -1=F -2=C -3=A
         1=A 2=D 3=E -1=E -2=D -3=A
         1=A 2=D 3=F -1=F -2=D -3=A
         1=B 2=C 3=E -1=E -2=C -3=B
         1=B 2=C 3=F -1=F -2=C -3=B
         1=B 2=D 3=E -1=E -2=D -3=B
         1=B 2=D 3=F -1=F -2=D -3=B

       Positional perl expression replacement string

       To use a perl expression as a positional replacement string simply
       prepend the perl expression with number and space:

         parallel echo '{=2 s:\.[^.]+$::;s:\.[^.]+$::; =} {1}' \
           ::: bar ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output:

         foo bar

       If a shorthand defined using --rpl starts with { it can be used as a
       positional replacement string, too:

         parallel --rpl '{..} s:\.[^.]+$::;s:\.[^.]+$::;' echo '{2..} {1}' \
           ::: bar ::: foo.tar.gz

       Output: Same as above.

       Input from columns

       The columns in a file can be bound to positional replacement strings
       using --colsep. Here the columns are separated by TAB (\t):

         parallel --colsep '\t' echo 1={1} 2={2} :::: tsv-file.tsv

       Output (the order may be different):

         1=f1 2=f2
         1=A 2=B
         1=C 2=D

       Header defined replacement strings

       With --header GNU parallel will use the first value of the input source
       as the name of the replacement string. Only the non-modified version {}
       is supported:

         parallel --header : echo f1={f1} f2={f2} ::: f1 A B ::: f2 C D

       Output (the order may be different):

         f1=A f2=C
         f1=A f2=D
         f1=B f2=C
         f1=B f2=D

       It is useful with --colsep for processing files with TAB separated
       values:

         parallel --header : --colsep '\t' echo f1={f1} f2={f2} \
           :::: tsv-file.tsv

       Output (the order may be different):

         f1=A f2=B
         f1=C f2=D

       More pre-defined replacement strings with --plus

       --plus adds the replacement strings {+/} {+.} {+..} {+...} {..}  {...}
       {/..} {/...} {##}. The idea being that {+foo} matches the opposite of
       {foo} and {} = {+/}/{/} = {.}.{+.} = {+/}/{/.}.{+.} = {..}.{+..} =
       {+/}/{/..}.{+..} = {...}.{+...} = {+/}/{/...}.{+...}.

         parallel --plus echo {} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {+/}/{/} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {.}.{+.} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {+/}/{/.}.{+.} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {..}.{+..} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {+/}/{/..}.{+..} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {...}.{+...} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3
         parallel --plus echo {+/}/{/...}.{+...} ::: dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3

       Output:

         dir/sub/file.ex1.ex2.ex3

       {##} is simply the number of jobs:

         parallel --plus echo Job {#} of {##} ::: {1..5}

       Output:

         Job 1 of 5
         Job 2 of 5
         Job 3 of 5
         Job 4 of 5
         Job 5 of 5

       Dynamic replacement strings with --plus

       --plus also defines these dynamic replacement strings:

       {:-string}         Default value is string if the argument is empty.

       {:number}          Substring from number till end of string.

       {:number1:number2} Substring from number1 to number2.

       {#string}          If the argument starts with string, remove it.

       {%string}          If the argument ends with string, remove it.

       {/string1/string2} Replace string1 with string2.

       {^string}          If the argument starts with string, upper case it.
                          string must be a single letter.

       {^^string}         If the argument contains string, upper case it.
                          string must be a single letter.

       {,string}          If the argument starts with string, lower case it.
                          string must be a single letter.

       {,,string}         If the argument contains string, lower case it.
                          string must be a single letter.

       They are inspired from Bash:

         unset myvar
         echo ${myvar:-myval}
         parallel --plus echo {:-myval} ::: "$myvar"

         myvar=abcAaAdef
         echo ${myvar:2}
         parallel --plus echo {:2} ::: "$myvar"

         echo ${myvar:2:3}
         parallel --plus echo {:2:3} ::: "$myvar"

         echo ${myvar#bc}
         parallel --plus echo {#bc} ::: "$myvar"
         echo ${myvar#abc}
         parallel --plus echo {#abc} ::: "$myvar"

         echo ${myvar%de}
         parallel --plus echo {%de} ::: "$myvar"
         echo ${myvar%def}
         parallel --plus echo {%def} ::: "$myvar"

         echo ${myvar/def/ghi}
         parallel --plus echo {/def/ghi} ::: "$myvar"

         echo ${myvar^a}
         parallel --plus echo {^a} ::: "$myvar"
         echo ${myvar^^a}
         parallel --plus echo {^^a} ::: "$myvar"

         myvar=AbcAaAdef
         echo ${myvar,A}
         parallel --plus echo '{,A}' ::: "$myvar"
         echo ${myvar,,A}
         parallel --plus echo '{,,A}' ::: "$myvar"

       Output:

         myval
         myval
         cAaAdef
         cAaAdef
         cAa
         cAa
         abcAaAdef
         abcAaAdef
         AaAdef
         AaAdef
         abcAaAdef
         abcAaAdef
         abcAaA
         abcAaA
         abcAaAghi
         abcAaAghi
         AbcAaAdef
         AbcAaAdef
         AbcAAAdef
         AbcAAAdef
         abcAaAdef
         abcAaAdef
         abcaaadef
         abcaaadef

   More than one argument
       With --xargs GNU parallel will fit as many arguments as possible on a
       single line:

         cat num30000 | parallel --xargs echo | wc -l

       Output (if you run this under Bash on GNU/Linux):

         2

       The 30000 arguments fitted on 2 lines.

       The maximal length of a single line can be set with -s. With a maximal
       line length of 10000 chars 17 commands will be run:

         cat num30000 | parallel --xargs -s 10000 echo | wc -l

       Output:

         17

       For better parallelism GNU parallel can distribute the arguments
       between all the parallel jobs when end of file is met.

       Below GNU parallel reads the last argument when generating the second
       job. When GNU parallel reads the last argument, it spreads all the
       arguments for the second job over 4 jobs instead, as 4 parallel jobs
       are requested.

       The first job will be the same as the --xargs example above, but the
       second job will be split into 4 evenly sized jobs, resulting in a total
       of 5 jobs:

         cat num30000 | parallel --jobs 4 -m echo | wc -l

       Output (if you run this under Bash on GNU/Linux):

         5

       This is even more visible when running 4 jobs with 10 arguments. The 10
       arguments are being spread over 4 jobs:

         parallel --jobs 4 -m echo ::: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

       Output:

         1 2 3
         4 5 6
         7 8 9
         10

       A replacement string can be part of a word. -m will not repeat the
       context:

         parallel --jobs 4 -m echo pre-{}-post ::: A B C D E F G

       Output (the order may be different):

         pre-A B-post
         pre-C D-post
         pre-E F-post
         pre-G-post

       To repeat the context use -X which otherwise works like -m:

         parallel --jobs 4 -X echo pre-{}-post ::: A B C D E F G

       Output (the order may be different):

         pre-A-post pre-B-post
         pre-C-post pre-D-post
         pre-E-post pre-F-post
         pre-G-post

       To limit the number of arguments use -N:

         parallel -N3 echo ::: A B C D E F G H

       Output (the order may be different):

         A B C
         D E F
         G H

       -N also sets the positional replacement strings:

         parallel -N3 echo 1={1} 2={2} 3={3} ::: A B C D E F G H

       Output (the order may be different):

         1=A 2=B 3=C
         1=D 2=E 3=F
         1=G 2=H 3=

       -N0 reads 1 argument but inserts none:

         parallel -N0 echo foo ::: 1 2 3

       Output:

         foo
         foo
         foo

   Quoting
       Command lines that contain special characters may need to be protected
       from the shell.

       The perl program print "@ARGV\n" basically works like echo.

         perl -e 'print "@ARGV\n"' A

       Output:

         A

       To run that in parallel the command needs to be quoted:

         parallel perl -e 'print "@ARGV\n"' ::: This wont work

       Output:

         [Nothing]

       To quote the command use -q:

         parallel -q perl -e 'print "@ARGV\n"' ::: This works

       Output (the order may be different):

         This
         works

       Or you can quote the critical part using \':

         parallel perl -e \''print "@ARGV\n"'\' ::: This works, too

       Output (the order may be different):

         This
         works,
         too

       GNU parallel can also \-quote full lines. Simply run this:

         parallel --shellquote
         Warning: Input is read from the terminal. You either know what you
         Warning: are doing (in which case: YOU ARE AWESOME!) or you forgot
         Warning: ::: or :::: or to pipe data into parallel. If so
         Warning: consider going through the tutorial: man parallel_tutorial
         Warning: Press CTRL-D to exit.
         perl -e 'print "@ARGV\n"'
         [CTRL-D]

       Output:

         perl\ -e\ \'print\ \"@ARGV\\n\"\'

       This can then be used as the command:

         parallel perl\ -e\ \'print\ \"@ARGV\\n\"\' ::: This also works

       Output (the order may be different):

         This
         also
         works

   Trimming space
       Space can be trimmed on the arguments using --trim:

         parallel --trim r echo pre-{}-post ::: ' A '

       Output:

         pre- A-post

       To trim on the left side:

         parallel --trim l echo pre-{}-post ::: ' A '

       Output:

         pre-A -post

       To trim on the both sides:

         parallel --trim lr echo pre-{}-post ::: ' A '

       Output:

         pre-A-post

   Respecting the shell
       This tutorial uses Bash as the shell. GNU parallel respects which shell
       you are using, so in zsh you can do:

         parallel echo \={} ::: zsh bash ls

       Output:

         /usr/bin/zsh
         /bin/bash
         /bin/ls

       In csh you can do:

         parallel 'set a="{}"; if( { test -d "$a" } ) echo "$a is a dir"' ::: *

       Output:

         [somedir] is a dir

       This also becomes useful if you use GNU parallel in a shell script: GNU
       parallel will use the same shell as the shell script.

Controlling the output
       The output can prefixed with the argument:

         parallel --tag echo foo-{} ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different):

         A       foo-A
         B       foo-B
         C       foo-C

       To prefix it with another string use --tagstring:

         parallel --tagstring {}-bar echo foo-{} ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different):

         A-bar   foo-A
         B-bar   foo-B
         C-bar   foo-C

       To see what commands will be run without running them use --dryrun:

         parallel --dryrun echo {} ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different):

         echo A
         echo B
         echo C

       To print the command before running them use --verbose:

         parallel --verbose echo {} ::: A B C

       Output (the order may be different):

         echo A
         echo B
         A
         echo C
         B
         C

       GNU parallel will postpone the output until the command completes:

         parallel -j2 'printf "%s-start\n%s" {} {};
           sleep {};printf "%s\n" -middle;echo {}-end' ::: 4 2 1

       Output:

         2-start
         2-middle
         2-end
         1-start
         1-middle
         1-end
         4-start
         4-middle
         4-end

       To get the output immediately use --ungroup:

         parallel -j2 --ungroup 'printf "%s-start\n%s" {} {};
           sleep {};printf "%s\n" -middle;echo {}-end' ::: 4 2 1

       Output:

         4-start
         42-start
         2-middle
         2-end
         1-start
         1-middle
         1-end
         -middle
         4-end

       --ungroup is fast, but can cause half a line from one job to be mixed
       with half a line of another job. That has happened in the second line,
       where the line '4-middle' is mixed with '2-start'.

       To avoid this use --linebuffer:

         parallel -j2 --linebuffer 'printf "%s-start\n%s" {} {};
           sleep {};printf "%s\n" -middle;echo {}-end' ::: 4 2 1

       Output:

         4-start
         2-start
         2-middle
         2-end
         1-start
         1-middle
         1-end
         4-middle
         4-end

       To force the output in the same order as the arguments use
       --keep-order/-k:

         parallel -j2 -k 'printf "%s-start\n%s" {} {};
           sleep {};printf "%s\n" -middle;echo {}-end' ::: 4 2 1

       Output:

         4-start
         4-middle
         4-end
         2-start
         2-middle
         2-end
         1-start
         1-middle
         1-end

   Saving output into files
       GNU parallel can save the output of each job into files:

         parallel --files echo ::: A B C

       Output will be similar to this:

         /tmp/pAh6uWuQCg.par
         /tmp/opjhZCzAX4.par
         /tmp/W0AT_Rph2o.par

       By default GNU parallel will cache the output in files in /tmp. This
       can be changed by setting $TMPDIR or --tmpdir:

         parallel --tmpdir /var/tmp --files echo ::: A B C

       Output will be similar to this:

         /var/tmp/N_vk7phQRc.par
         /var/tmp/7zA4Ccf3wZ.par
         /var/tmp/LIuKgF_2LP.par

       Or:

         TMPDIR=/var/tmp parallel --files echo ::: A B C

       Output: Same as above.

       The output files can be saved in a structured way using --results:

         parallel --results outdir echo ::: A B C

       Output:

         A
         B
         C

       These files were also generated containing the standard output
       (stdout), standard error (stderr), and the sequence number (seq):

         outdir/1/A/seq
         outdir/1/A/stderr
         outdir/1/A/stdout
         outdir/1/B/seq
         outdir/1/B/stderr
         outdir/1/B/stdout
         outdir/1/C/seq
         outdir/1/C/stderr
         outdir/1/C/stdout

       --header : will take the first value as name and use that in the
       directory structure. This is useful if you are using multiple input
       sources:

         parallel --header : --results outdir echo ::: f1 A B ::: f2 C D

       Generated files:

         outdir/f1/A/f2/C/seq
         outdir/f1/A/f2/C/stderr
         outdir/f1/A/f2/C/stdout
         outdir/f1/A/f2/D/seq
         outdir/f1/A/f2/D/stderr
         outdir/f1/A/f2/D/stdout
         outdir/f1/B/f2/C/seq
         outdir/f1/B/f2/C/stderr
         outdir/f1/B/f2/C/stdout
         outdir/f1/B/f2/D/seq
         outdir/f1/B/f2/D/stderr
         outdir/f1/B/f2/D/stdout

       The directories are named after the variables and their values.

Controlling the execution
   Number of simultaneous jobs
       The number of concurrent jobs is given with --jobs/-j:

         /usr/bin/time parallel -N0 -j64 sleep 1 :::: num128

       With 64 jobs in parallel the 128 sleeps will take 2-8 seconds to run -
       depending on how fast your machine is.

       By default --jobs is the same as the number of CPU cores. So this:

         /usr/bin/time parallel -N0 sleep 1 :::: num128

       should take twice the time of running 2 jobs per CPU core:

         /usr/bin/time parallel -N0 --jobs 200% sleep 1 :::: num128

       --jobs 0 will run as many jobs in parallel as possible:

         /usr/bin/time parallel -N0 --jobs 0 sleep 1 :::: num128

       which should take 1-7 seconds depending on how fast your machine is.

       --jobs can read from a file which is re-read when a job finishes:

         echo 50% > my_jobs
         /usr/bin/time parallel -N0 --jobs my_jobs sleep 1 :::: num128 &
         sleep 1
         echo 0 > my_jobs
         wait

       The first second only 50% of the CPU cores will run a job. Then 0 is
       put into my_jobs and then the rest of the jobs will be started in
       parallel.

       Instead of basing the percentage on the number of CPU cores GNU
       parallel can base it on the number of CPUs:

         parallel --use-cpus-instead-of-cores -N0 sleep 1 :::: num8

   Shuffle job order
       If you have many jobs (e.g. by multiple combinations of input sources),
       it can be handy to shuffle the jobs, so you get different values run.
       Use --shuf for that:

         parallel --shuf echo ::: 1 2 3 ::: a b c ::: A B C

       Output:

         All combinations but different order for each run.

   Interactivity
       GNU parallel can ask the user if a command should be run using
       --interactive:

         parallel --interactive echo ::: 1 2 3

       Output:

         echo 1 ?...y
         echo 2 ?...n
         1
         echo 3 ?...y
         3

       GNU parallel can be used to put arguments on the command line for an
       interactive command such as emacs to edit one file at a time:

         parallel --tty emacs ::: 1 2 3

       Or give multiple argument in one go to open multiple files:

         parallel -X --tty vi ::: 1 2 3

   A terminal for every job
       Using --tmux GNU parallel can start a terminal for every job run:

         seq 10 20 | parallel --tmux 'echo start {}; sleep {}; echo done {}'

       This will tell you to run something similar to:

         tmux -S /tmp/tmsrPrO0 attach

       Using normal tmux keystrokes (CTRL-b n or CTRL-b p) you can cycle
       between windows of the running jobs. When a job is finished it will
       pause for 10 seconds before closing the window.

   Timing
       Some jobs do heavy I/O when they start. To avoid a thundering herd GNU
       parallel can delay starting new jobs. --delay X will make sure there is
       at least X seconds between each start:

         parallel --delay 2.5 echo Starting {}\;date ::: 1 2 3

       Output:

         Starting 1
         Thu Aug 15 16:24:33 CEST 2013
         Starting 2
         Thu Aug 15 16:24:35 CEST 2013
         Starting 3
         Thu Aug 15 16:24:38 CEST 2013

       If jobs taking more than a certain amount of time are known to fail,
       they can be stopped with --timeout. The accuracy of --timeout is 2
       seconds:

         parallel --timeout 4.1 sleep {}\; echo {} ::: 2 4 6 8

       Output:

         2
         4

       GNU parallel can compute the median runtime for jobs and kill those
       that take more than 200% of the median runtime:

         parallel --timeout 200% sleep {}\; echo {} ::: 2.1 2.2 3 7 2.3

       Output:

         2.1
         2.2
         3
         2.3

   Progress information
       Based on the runtime of completed jobs GNU parallel can estimate the
       total runtime:

         parallel --eta sleep ::: 1 3 2 2 1 3 3 2 1

       Output:

         Computers / CPU cores / Max jobs to run
         1:local / 2 / 2

         Computer:jobs running/jobs completed/%of started jobs/
           Average seconds to complete
         ETA: 2s 0left 1.11avg  local:0/9/100%/1.1s

       GNU parallel can give progress information with --progress:

         parallel --progress sleep ::: 1 3 2 2 1 3 3 2 1

       Output:

         Computers / CPU cores / Max jobs to run
         1:local / 2 / 2

         Computer:jobs running/jobs completed/%of started jobs/
           Average seconds to complete
         local:0/9/100%/1.1s

       A progress bar can be shown with --bar:

         parallel --bar sleep ::: 1 3 2 2 1 3 3 2 1

       And a graphic bar can be shown with --bar and zenity:

         seq 1000 | parallel -j10 --bar '(echo -n {};sleep 0.1)' \
           2> >(perl -pe 'BEGIN{$/="\r";$|=1};s/\r/\n/g' |
                zenity --progress --auto-kill --auto-close)

       A logfile of the jobs completed so far can be generated with --joblog:

         parallel --joblog /tmp/log exit  ::: 1 2 3 0
         cat /tmp/log

       Output:

         Seq Host Starttime      Runtime Send Receive Exitval Signal Command
         1   :    1376577364.974 0.008   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376577364.982 0.013   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376577364.990 0.013   0    0       3       0      exit 3
         4   :    1376577365.003 0.003   0    0       0       0      exit 0

       The log contains the job sequence, which host the job was run on, the
       start time and run time, how much data was transferred, the exit value,
       the signal that killed the job, and finally the command being run.

       With a joblog GNU parallel can be stopped and later pickup where it
       left off. It it important that the input of the completed jobs is
       unchanged.

         parallel --joblog /tmp/log exit  ::: 1 2 3 0
         cat /tmp/log
         parallel --resume --joblog /tmp/log exit  ::: 1 2 3 0 0 0
         cat /tmp/log

       Output:

         Seq Host Starttime      Runtime Send Receive Exitval Signal Command
         1   :    1376580069.544 0.008   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580069.552 0.009   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580069.560 0.012   0    0       3       0      exit 3
         4   :    1376580069.571 0.005   0    0       0       0      exit 0

         Seq Host Starttime      Runtime Send Receive Exitval Signal Command
         1   :    1376580069.544 0.008   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580069.552 0.009   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580069.560 0.012   0    0       3       0      exit 3
         4   :    1376580069.571 0.005   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         5   :    1376580070.028 0.009   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         6   :    1376580070.038 0.007   0    0       0       0      exit 0

       Note how the start time of the last 2 jobs is clearly different from
       the second run.

       With --resume-failed GNU parallel will re-run the jobs that failed:

         parallel --resume-failed --joblog /tmp/log exit  ::: 1 2 3 0 0 0
         cat /tmp/log

       Output:

         Seq Host Starttime      Runtime Send Receive Exitval Signal Command
         1   :    1376580069.544 0.008   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580069.552 0.009   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580069.560 0.012   0    0       3       0      exit 3
         4   :    1376580069.571 0.005   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         5   :    1376580070.028 0.009   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         6   :    1376580070.038 0.007   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         1   :    1376580154.433 0.010   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580154.444 0.022   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580154.466 0.005   0    0       3       0      exit 3

       Note how seq 1 2 3 have been repeated because they had exit value
       different from 0.

       --retry-failed does almost the same as --resume-failed. Where
       --resume-failed reads the commands from the command line (and ignores
       the commands in the joblog), --retry-failed ignores the command line
       and reruns the commands mentioned in the joblog.

         parallel --retry-failed --joblog /tmp/log
         cat /tmp/log

       Output:

         Seq Host Starttime      Runtime Send Receive Exitval Signal Command
         1   :    1376580069.544 0.008   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580069.552 0.009   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580069.560 0.012   0    0       3       0      exit 3
         4   :    1376580069.571 0.005   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         5   :    1376580070.028 0.009   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         6   :    1376580070.038 0.007   0    0       0       0      exit 0
         1   :    1376580154.433 0.010   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580154.444 0.022   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580154.466 0.005   0    0       3       0      exit 3
         1   :    1376580164.633 0.010   0    0       1       0      exit 1
         2   :    1376580164.644 0.022   0    0       2       0      exit 2
         3   :    1376580164.666 0.005   0    0       3       0      exit 3

   Termination
       Unconditional termination

       By default GNU parallel will wait for all jobs to finish before
       exiting.

       If you send GNU parallel the TERM signal, GNU parallel will stop
       spawning new jobs and wait for the remaining jobs to finish. If you
       send GNU parallel the TERM signal again, GNU parallel will kill all
       running jobs and exit.

       Termination dependent on job status

       For certain jobs there is no need to continue if one of the jobs fails
       and has an exit code different from 0. GNU parallel will stop spawning
       new jobs with --halt soon,fail=1:

         parallel -j2 --halt soon,fail=1 echo {}\; exit {} ::: 0 0 1 2 3

       Output:

         0
         0
         1
         parallel: This job failed:
         echo 1; exit 1
         parallel: Starting no more jobs. Waiting for 1 jobs to finish.
         2

       With --halt now,fail=1 the running jobs will be killed immediately:

         parallel -j2 --halt now,fail=1 echo {}\; exit {} ::: 0 0 1 2 3

       Output:

         0
         0
         1
         parallel: This job failed:
         echo 1; exit 1

       If --halt is given a percentage this percentage of the jobs must fail
       before GNU parallel stops spawning more jobs:

         parallel -j2 --halt soon,fail=20% echo {}\; exit {} \
           ::: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

       Output:

         0
         1
         parallel: This job failed:
         echo 1; exit 1
         2
         parallel: This job failed:
         echo 2; exit 2
         parallel: Starting no more jobs. Waiting for 1 jobs to finish.
         3
         parallel: This job failed:
         echo 3; exit 3

       If you are looking for success instead of failures, you can use
       success. This will finish as soon as the first job succeeds:

         parallel -j2 --halt now,success=1 echo {}\; exit {} ::: 1 2 3 0 4 5 6

       Output:

         1
         2
         3
         0
         parallel: This job succeeded:
         echo 0; exit 0

       GNU parallel can retry the command with --retries. This is useful if a
       command fails for unknown reasons now and then.

         parallel -k --retries 3 \
           'echo tried {} >>/tmp/runs; echo completed {}; exit {}' ::: 1 2 0
         cat /tmp/runs

       Output:

         completed 1
         completed 2
         completed 0

         tried 1
         tried 2
         tried 1
         tried 2
         tried 1
         tried 2
         tried 0

       Note how job 1 and 2 were tried 3 times, but 0 was not retried because
       it had exit code 0.

       Termination signals (advanced)

       Using --termseq you can control which signals are sent when killing
       children. Normally children will be killed by sending them SIGTERM,
       waiting 200 ms, then another SIGTERM, waiting 100 ms, then another
       SIGTERM, waiting 50 ms, then a SIGKILL, finally waiting 25 ms before
       giving up. It looks like this:

         show_signals() {
           perl -e 'for(keys %SIG) {
               $SIG{$_} = eval "sub { print \"Got $_\\n\"; }";
             }
             while(1){sleep 1}'
         }
         export -f show_signals
         echo | parallel --termseq TERM,200,TERM,100,TERM,50,KILL,25 \
           -u --timeout 1 show_signals

       Output:

         Got TERM
         Got TERM
         Got TERM

       Or just:

         echo | parallel -u --timeout 1 show_signals

       Output: Same as above.

       You can change this to SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGKILL:

         echo | parallel --termseq INT,200,TERM,100,KILL,25 \
           -u --timeout 1 show_signals

       Output:

         Got INT
         Got TERM

       The SIGKILL does not show because it cannot be caught, and thus the
       child dies.

   Limiting the resources
       To avoid overloading systems GNU parallel can look at the system load
       before starting another job:

         parallel --load 100% echo load is less than {} job per cpu ::: 1

       Output:

         [when then load is less than the number of cpu cores]
         load is less than 1 job per cpu

       GNU parallel can also check if the system is swapping.

         parallel --noswap echo the system is not swapping ::: now

       Output:

         [when then system is not swapping]
         the system is not swapping now

       Some jobs need a lot of memory, and should only be started when there
       is enough memory free. Using --memfree GNU parallel can check if there
       is enough memory free. Additionally, GNU parallel will kill off the
       youngest job if the memory free falls below 50% of the size. The killed
       job will put back on the queue and retried later.

         parallel --memfree 1G echo will run if more than 1 GB is ::: free

       GNU parallel can run the jobs with a nice value. This will work both
       locally and remotely.

         parallel --nice 17 echo this is being run with nice -n ::: 17

       Output:

         this is being run with nice -n 17

Remote execution
       GNU parallel can run jobs on remote servers. It uses ssh to communicate
       with the remote machines.

   Sshlogin
       The most basic sshlogin is -S host:

         parallel -S $SERVER1 echo running on ::: $SERVER1

       Output:

         running on [$SERVER1]

       To use a different username prepend the server with username@:

         parallel -S username@$SERVER1 echo running on ::: username@$SERVER1

       Output:

         running on [username@$SERVER1]

       The special sshlogin : is the local machine:

         parallel -S : echo running on ::: the_local_machine

       Output:

         running on the_local_machine

       If ssh is not in $PATH it can be prepended to $SERVER1:

         parallel -S '/usr/bin/ssh '$SERVER1 echo custom ::: ssh

       Output:

         custom ssh

       The ssh command can also be given using --ssh:

         parallel --ssh /usr/bin/ssh -S $SERVER1 echo custom ::: ssh

       or by setting $PARALLEL_SSH:

         export PARALLEL_SSH=/usr/bin/ssh
         parallel -S $SERVER1 echo custom ::: ssh

       Several servers can be given using multiple -S:

         parallel -S $SERVER1 -S $SERVER2 echo ::: running on more hosts

       Output (the order may be different):

         running
         on
         more
         hosts

       Or they can be separated by ,:

         parallel -S $SERVER1,$SERVER2 echo ::: running on more hosts

       Output: Same as above.

       Or newline:

         # This gives a \n between $SERVER1 and $SERVER2
         SERVERS="`echo $SERVER1; echo $SERVER2`"
         parallel -S "$SERVERS" echo ::: running on more hosts

       They can also be read from a file (replace user@ with the user on
       $SERVER2):

         echo $SERVER1 > nodefile
         # Force 4 cores, special ssh-command, username
         echo 4//usr/bin/ssh user@$SERVER2 >> nodefile
         parallel --sshloginfile nodefile echo ::: running on more hosts

       Output: Same as above.

       Every time a job finished, the --sshloginfile will be re-read, so it is
       possible to both add and remove hosts while running.

       The special --sshloginfile .. reads from ~/.parallel/sshloginfile.

       To force GNU parallel to treat a server having a given number of CPU
       cores prepend the number of core followed by / to the sshlogin:

         parallel -S 4/$SERVER1 echo force {} cpus on server ::: 4

       Output:

         force 4 cpus on server

       Servers can be put into groups by prepending @groupname to the server
       and the group can then be selected by appending @groupname to the
       argument if using --hostgroup:

         parallel --hostgroup -S @grp1/$SERVER1 -S @grp2/$SERVER2 echo {} \
           ::: run_on_grp1@grp1 run_on_grp2@grp2

       Output:

         run_on_grp1
         run_on_grp2

       A host can be in multiple groups by separating the groups with +, and
       you can force GNU parallel to limit the groups on which the command can
       be run with -S @groupname:

         parallel -S @grp1 -S @grp1+grp2/$SERVER1 -S @grp2/SERVER2 echo {} \
           ::: run_on_grp1 also_grp1

       Output:

         run_on_grp1
         also_grp1

   Transferring files
       GNU parallel can transfer the files to be processed to the remote host.
       It does that using rsync.

         echo This is input_file > input_file
         parallel -S $SERVER1 --transferfile {} cat ::: input_file

       Output:

         This is input_file

       If the files are processed into another file, the resulting file can be
       transferred back:

         echo This is input_file > input_file
         parallel -S $SERVER1 --transferfile {} --return {}.out \
           cat {} ">"{}.out ::: input_file
         cat input_file.out

       Output: Same as above.

       To remove the input and output file on the remote server use --cleanup:

         echo This is input_file > input_file
         parallel -S $SERVER1 --transferfile {} --return {}.out --cleanup \
           cat {} ">"{}.out ::: input_file
         cat input_file.out

       Output: Same as above.

       There is a shorthand for --transferfile {} --return --cleanup called
       --trc:

         echo This is input_file > input_file
         parallel -S $SERVER1 --trc {}.out cat {} ">"{}.out ::: input_file
         cat input_file.out

       Output: Same as above.

       Some jobs need a common database for all jobs. GNU parallel can
       transfer that using --basefile which will transfer the file before the
       first job:

         echo common data > common_file
         parallel --basefile common_file -S $SERVER1 \
           cat common_file\; echo {} ::: foo

       Output:

         common data
         foo

       To remove it from the remote host after the last job use --cleanup.

   Working dir
       The default working dir on the remote machines is the login dir. This
       can be changed with --workdir mydir.

       Files transferred using --transferfile and --return will be relative to
       mydir on remote computers, and the command will be executed in the dir
       mydir.

       The special mydir value ... will create working dirs under
       ~/.parallel/tmp on the remote computers. If --cleanup is given these
       dirs will be removed.

       The special mydir value . uses the current working dir.  If the current
       working dir is beneath your home dir, the value . is treated as the
       relative path to your home dir. This means that if your home dir is
       different on remote computers (e.g. if your login is different) the
       relative path will still be relative to your home dir.

         parallel -S $SERVER1 pwd ::: ""
         parallel --workdir . -S $SERVER1 pwd ::: ""
         parallel --workdir ... -S $SERVER1 pwd ::: ""

       Output:

         [the login dir on $SERVER1]
         [current dir relative on $SERVER1]
         [a dir in ~/.parallel/tmp/...]

   Avoid overloading sshd
       If many jobs are started on the same server, sshd can be overloaded.
       GNU parallel can insert a delay between each job run on the same
       server:

         parallel -S $SERVER1 --sshdelay 0.2 echo ::: 1 2 3

       Output (the order may be different):

         1
         2
         3

       sshd will be less overloaded if using --controlmaster, which will
       multiplex ssh connections:

         parallel --controlmaster -S $SERVER1 echo ::: 1 2 3

       Output: Same as above.

   Ignore hosts that are down
       In clusters with many hosts a few of them are often down. GNU parallel
       can ignore those hosts. In this case the host 173.194.32.46 is down:

         parallel --filter-hosts -S 173.194.32.46,$SERVER1 echo ::: bar

       Output:

         bar

   Running the same commands on all hosts
       GNU parallel can run the same command on all the hosts:

         parallel --onall -S $SERVER1,$SERVER2 echo ::: foo bar

       Output (the order may be different):

         foo
         bar
         foo
         bar

       Often you will just want to run a single command on all hosts with out
       arguments. --nonall is a no argument --onall:

         parallel --nonall -S $SERVER1,$SERVER2 echo foo bar

       Output:

         foo bar
         foo bar

       When --tag is used with --nonall and --onall the --tagstring is the
       host:

         parallel --nonall --tag -S $SERVER1,$SERVER2 echo foo bar

       Output (the order may be different):

         $SERVER1 foo bar
         $SERVER2 foo bar

       --jobs sets the number of servers to log in to in parallel.

   Transferring environment variables and functions
       env_parallel is a shell function that transfers all aliases, functions,
       variables, and arrays. You active it by running:

         source `which env_parallel.bash`

       Replace bash with the shell you use.

       Now you can use env_parallel instead of parallel and still have your
       environment:

         alias myecho=echo
         myvar="Joe's var is"
         env_parallel -S $SERVER1 'myecho $myvar' ::: green

       Output:

         Joe's var is green

       The disadvantage is that if your environment is huge env_parallel will
       fail.

       When env_parallel fails, you can still use --env to tell GNU parallel
       to transfer an environment variable to the remote system.

         MYVAR='foo bar'
         export MYVAR
         parallel --env MYVAR -S $SERVER1 echo '$MYVAR' ::: baz

       Output:

         foo bar baz

       This works for functions, too, if your shell is Bash:

         # This only works in Bash
         my_func() {
           echo in my_func $1
         }
         export -f my_func
         parallel --env my_func -S $SERVER1 my_func ::: baz

       Output:

         in my_func baz

       GNU parallel can copy all user defined variables and functions to the
       remote system. It just needs to record which ones to ignore in
       ~/.parallel/ignored_vars. Do that by running this once:

         parallel --record-env
         cat ~/.parallel/ignored_vars

       Output:

         [list of variables to ignore - including $PATH and $HOME]

       Now all other variables and functions defined will be copied when using
       --env _.

         # The function is only copied if using Bash
         my_func2() {
           echo in my_func2 $VAR $1
         }
         export -f my_func2
         VAR=foo
         export VAR

         parallel --env _ -S $SERVER1 'echo $VAR; my_func2' ::: bar

       Output:

         foo
         in my_func2 foo bar

       If you use env_parallel the variables, functions, and aliases do not
       even need to be exported to be copied:

         NOT='not exported var'
         alias myecho=echo
         not_ex() {
           myecho in not_exported_func $NOT $1
         }
         env_parallel --env _ -S $SERVER1 'echo $NOT; not_ex' ::: bar

       Output:

         not exported var
         in not_exported_func not exported var bar

   Showing what is actually run
       --verbose will show the command that would be run on the local machine.

       When using --cat, --pipepart, or when a job is run on a remote machine,
       the command is wrapped with helper scripts. -vv shows all of this.

         parallel -vv --pipepart --block 1M wc :::: num30000

       Output:

         <num30000 perl -e 'while(@ARGV) { sysseek(STDIN,shift,0) || die;
         $left = shift; while($read = sysread(STDIN,$buf, ($left > 131072
         ? 131072 : $left))){ $left -= $read; syswrite(STDOUT,$buf); } }'
         0 0 0 168894 | (wc)
           30000   30000  168894

       When the command gets more complex, the output is so hard to read, that
       it is only useful for debugging:

         my_func3() {
           echo in my_func $1 > $1.out
         }
         export -f my_func3
         parallel -vv --workdir ... --nice 17 --env _ --trc {}.out \
           -S $SERVER1 my_func3 {} ::: abc-file

       Output will be similar to:

         ( ssh server -- mkdir -p ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1;rsync
         --protocol 30 -rlDzR -essh ./abc-file
         server:./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1 );ssh server -- exec perl -e
         \''@GNU_Parallel=("use","IPC::Open3;","use","MIME::Base64");
         eval"@GNU_Parallel";my$eval=decode_base64(join"",@ARGV);eval$eval;'\'
         c3lzdGVtKCJta2RpciIsIi1wIiwiLS0iLCIucGFyYWxsZWwvdG1wL2FzcGlyZS0xOTI4N
         TsgY2hkaXIgIi5wYXJhbGxlbC90bXAvYXNwaXJlLTE5Mjg1MjAtMSIgfHxwcmludChTVE
         BhcmFsbGVsOiBDYW5ub3QgY2hkaXIgdG8gLnBhcmFsbGVsL3RtcC9hc3BpcmUtMTkyODU
         iKSAmJiBleGl0IDI1NTskRU5WeyJPTERQV0QifT0iL2hvbWUvdGFuZ2UvcHJpdmF0L3Bh
         IjskRU5WeyJQQVJBTExFTF9QSUQifT0iMTkyODUyMCI7JEVOVnsiUEFSQUxMRUxfU0VRI
         0BiYXNoX2Z1bmN0aW9ucz1xdyhteV9mdW5jMyk7IGlmKCRFTlZ7IlNIRUxMIn09fi9jc2
         ByaW50IFNUREVSUiAiQ1NIL1RDU0ggRE8gTk9UIFNVUFBPUlQgbmV3bGluZXMgSU4gVkF
         TL0ZVTkNUSU9OUy4gVW5zZXQgQGJhc2hfZnVuY3Rpb25zXG4iOyBleGVjICJmYWxzZSI7
         YXNoZnVuYyA9ICJteV9mdW5jMygpIHsgIGVjaG8gaW4gbXlfZnVuYyBcJDEgPiBcJDEub
         Xhwb3J0IC1mIG15X2Z1bmMzID4vZGV2L251bGw7IjtAQVJHVj0ibXlfZnVuYzMgYWJjLW
         RzaGVsbD0iJEVOVntTSEVMTH0iOyR0bXBkaXI9Ii90bXAiOyRuaWNlPTE3O2RveyRFTlZ
         MRUxfVE1QfT0kdG1wZGlyLiIvcGFyIi5qb2luIiIsbWFweygwLi45LCJhIi4uInoiLCJB
         KVtyYW5kKDYyKV19KDEuLjUpO313aGlsZSgtZSRFTlZ7UEFSQUxMRUxfVE1QfSk7JFNJ
         fT1zdWJ7JGRvbmU9MTt9OyRwaWQ9Zm9yazt1bmxlc3MoJHBpZCl7c2V0cGdycDtldmFse
         W9yaXR5KDAsMCwkbmljZSl9O2V4ZWMkc2hlbGwsIi1jIiwoJGJhc2hmdW5jLiJAQVJHVi
         JleGVjOiQhXG4iO31kb3skcz0kczwxPzAuMDAxKyRzKjEuMDM6JHM7c2VsZWN0KHVuZGV
         mLHVuZGVmLCRzKTt9dW50aWwoJGRvbmV8fGdldHBwaWQ9PTEpO2tpbGwoU0lHSFVQLC0k
         dW5sZXNzJGRvbmU7d2FpdDtleGl0KCQ/JjEyNz8xMjgrKCQ/JjEyNyk6MSskPz4+OCk=;
         _EXIT_status=$?; mkdir -p ./.; rsync --protocol 30 --rsync-path=cd\
         ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1/./.\;\ rsync -rlDzR -essh
         server:./abc-file.out ./.;ssh server -- \(rm\ -f\
         ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1/abc-file\;\ sh\ -c\ \'rmdir\
         ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1/\ ./.parallel/tmp/\ ./.parallel/\
         2\>/dev/null\'\;rm\ -rf\ ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1\;\);ssh
         server -- \(rm\ -f\ ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1/abc-file.out\;\
         sh\ -c\ \'rmdir\ ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1/\ ./.parallel/tmp/\
         ./.parallel/\ 2\>/dev/null\'\;rm\ -rf\
         ./.parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1\;\);ssh server -- rm -rf
         .parallel/tmp/aspire-1928520-1; exit $_EXIT_status;

Saving output to shell variables (advanced)
       GNU parset will set shell variables to the output of GNU parallel. GNU
       parset has one important limitation: It cannot be part of a pipe. In
       particular this means it cannot read anything from standard input
       (stdin) or pipe output to another program.

       To use GNU parset prepend command with destination variables:

         parset myvar1,myvar2 echo ::: a b
         echo $myvar1
         echo $myvar2

       Output:

         a
         b

       If you only give a single variable, it will be treated as an array:

         parset myarray seq {} 5 ::: 1 2 3
         echo "${myarray[1]}"

       Output:

         2
         3
         4
         5

       The commands to run can be an array:

         cmd=("echo '<<joe  \"double  space\"  cartoon>>'" "pwd")
         parset data ::: "${cmd[@]}"
         echo "${data[0]}"
         echo "${data[1]}"

       Output:

         <<joe  "double  space"  cartoon>>
         [current dir]

Saving to an SQL base (advanced)
       GNU parallel can save into an SQL base. Point GNU parallel to a table
       and it will put the joblog there together with the variables and the
       output each in their own column.

   CSV as SQL base
       The simplest is to use a CSV file as the storage table:

         parallel --sqlandworker csv:///%2Ftmp/log.csv \
           seq ::: 10 ::: 12 13 14
         cat /tmp/log.csv

       Note how '/' in the path must be written as %2F.

       Output will be similar to:

         Seq,Host,Starttime,JobRuntime,Send,Receive,Exitval,_Signal,
           Command,V1,V2,Stdout,Stderr
         1,:,1458254498.254,0.069,0,9,0,0,"seq 10 12",10,12,"10
         11
         12
         ",
         2,:,1458254498.278,0.080,0,12,0,0,"seq 10 13",10,13,"10
         11
         12
         13
         ",
         3,:,1458254498.301,0.083,0,15,0,0,"seq 10 14",10,14,"10
         11
         12
         13
         14
         ",

       A proper CSV reader (like LibreOffice or R's read.csv) will read this
       format correctly - even with fields containing newlines as above.

       If the output is big you may want to put it into files using --results:

         parallel --results outdir --sqlandworker csv:///%2Ftmp/log2.csv \
           seq ::: 10 ::: 12 13 14
         cat /tmp/log2.csv

       Output will be similar to:

         Seq,Host,Starttime,JobRuntime,Send,Receive,Exitval,_Signal,
           Command,V1,V2,Stdout,Stderr
         1,:,1458824738.287,0.029,0,9,0,0,
           "seq 10 12",10,12,outdir/1/10/2/12/stdout,outdir/1/10/2/12/stderr
         2,:,1458824738.298,0.025,0,12,0,0,
           "seq 10 13",10,13,outdir/1/10/2/13/stdout,outdir/1/10/2/13/stderr
         3,:,1458824738.309,0.026,0,15,0,0,
           "seq 10 14",10,14,outdir/1/10/2/14/stdout,outdir/1/10/2/14/stderr

   DBURL as table
       The CSV file is an example of a DBURL.

       GNU parallel uses a DBURL to address the table. A DBURL has this
       format:

         vendor://[[user][:password]@][host][:port]/[database[/table]

       Example:

         mysql://scott:tiger@my.example.com/mydatabase/mytable
         postgresql://scott:tiger@pg.example.com/mydatabase/mytable
         sqlite3:///%2Ftmp%2Fmydatabase/mytable
         csv:///%2Ftmp/log.csv

       To refer to /tmp/mydatabase with sqlite or csv you need to encode the /
       as %2F.

       Run a job using sqlite on mytable in /tmp/mydatabase:

         DBURL=sqlite3:///%2Ftmp%2Fmydatabase
         DBURLTABLE=$DBURL/mytable
         parallel --sqlandworker $DBURLTABLE echo ::: foo bar ::: baz quuz

       To see the result:

         sql $DBURL 'SELECT * FROM mytable ORDER BY Seq;'

       Output will be similar to:

         Seq|Host|Starttime|JobRuntime|Send|Receive|Exitval|_Signal|
           Command|V1|V2|Stdout|Stderr
         1|:|1451619638.903|0.806||8|0|0|echo foo baz|foo|baz|foo baz
         |
         2|:|1451619639.265|1.54||9|0|0|echo foo quuz|foo|quuz|foo quuz
         |
         3|:|1451619640.378|1.43||8|0|0|echo bar baz|bar|baz|bar baz
         |
         4|:|1451619641.473|0.958||9|0|0|echo bar quuz|bar|quuz|bar quuz
         |

       The first columns are well known from --joblog. V1 and V2 are data from
       the input sources. Stdout and Stderr are standard output and standard
       error, respectively.

   Using multiple workers
       Using an SQL base as storage costs overhead in the order of 1 second
       per job.

       One of the situations where it makes sense is if you have multiple
       workers.

       You can then have a single master machine that submits jobs to the SQL
       base (but does not do any of the work):

         parallel --sqlmaster $DBURLTABLE echo ::: foo bar ::: baz quuz

       On the worker machines you run exactly the same command except you
       replace --sqlmaster with --sqlworker.

         parallel --sqlworker $DBURLTABLE echo ::: foo bar ::: baz quuz

       To run a master and a worker on the same machine use --sqlandworker as
       shown earlier.

--pipe
       The --pipe functionality puts GNU parallel in a different mode: Instead
       of treating the data on stdin (standard input) as arguments for a
       command to run, the data will be sent to stdin (standard input) of the
       command.

       The typical situation is:

         command_A | command_B | command_C

       where command_B is slow, and you want to speed up command_B.

   Chunk size
       By default GNU parallel will start an instance of command_B, read a
       chunk of 1 MB, and pass that to the instance. Then start another
       instance, read another chunk, and pass that to the second instance.

         cat num1000000 | parallel --pipe wc

       Output (the order may be different):

         165668  165668 1048571
         149797  149797 1048579
         149796  149796 1048572
         149797  149797 1048579
         149797  149797 1048579
         149796  149796 1048572
          85349   85349  597444

       The size of the chunk is not exactly 1 MB because GNU parallel only
       passes full lines - never half a line, thus the blocksize is only 1 MB
       on average. You can change the block size to 2 MB with --block:

         cat num1000000 | parallel --pipe --block 2M wc

       Output (the order may be different):

         315465  315465 2097150
         299593  299593 2097151
         299593  299593 2097151
          85349   85349  597444

       GNU parallel treats each line as a record. If the order of records is
       unimportant (e.g. you need all lines processed, but you do not care
       which is processed first), then you can use --roundrobin. Without
       --roundrobin GNU parallel will start a command per block; with
       --roundrobin only the requested number of jobs will be started
       (--jobs). The records will then be distributed between the running
       jobs:

         cat num1000000 | parallel --pipe -j4 --roundrobin wc

       Output will be similar to:

         149797  149797 1048579
         299593  299593 2097151
         315465  315465 2097150
         235145  235145 1646016

       One of the 4 instances got a single record, 2 instances got 2 full
       records each, and one instance got 1 full and 1 partial record.

   Records
       GNU parallel sees the input as records. The default record is a single
       line.

       Using -N140000 GNU parallel will read 140000 records at a time:

         cat num1000000 | parallel --pipe -N140000 wc

       Output (the order may be different):

         140000  140000  868895
         140000  140000  980000
         140000  140000  980000
         140000  140000  980000
         140000  140000  980000
         140000  140000  980000
         140000  140000  980000
          20000   20000  140001

       Note how that the last job could not get the full 140000 lines, but
       only 20000 lines.

       If a record is 75 lines -L can be used:

         cat num1000000 | parallel --pipe -L75 wc

       Output (the order may be different):

         165600  165600 1048095
         149850  149850 1048950
         149775  149775 1048425
         149775  149775 1048425
         149850  149850 1048950
         149775  149775 1048425
          85350   85350  597450
             25      25     176

       Note how GNU parallel still reads a block of around 1 MB; but instead
       of passing full lines to wc it passes full 75 lines at a time. This of
       course does not hold for the last job (which in this case got 25
       lines).

   Fixed length records
       Fixed length records can be processed by setting --recend '' and
       --block recordsize. A header of size n can be processed with --header
       .{n}.

       Here is how to process a file with a 4-byte header and a 3-byte record
       size:

         cat fixedlen | parallel --pipe --header .{4} --block 3 --recend '' \
           'echo start; cat; echo'

       Output:

         start
         HHHHAAA
         start
         HHHHCCC
         start
         HHHHBBB

       It may be more efficient to increase --block to a multiplum of the
       record size.

   Record separators
       GNU parallel uses separators to determine where two records split.

       --recstart gives the string that starts a record; --recend gives the
       string that ends a record. The default is --recend '\n' (newline).

       If both --recend and --recstart are given, then the record will only
       split if the recend string is immediately followed by the recstart
       string.

       Here the --recend is set to ', ':

         echo /foo, bar/, /baz, qux/, | \
           parallel -kN1 --recend ', ' --pipe echo JOB{#}\;cat\;echo END

       Output:

         JOB1
         /foo, END
         JOB2
         bar/, END
         JOB3
         /baz, END
         JOB4
         qux/,
         END

       Here the --recstart is set to /:

         echo /foo, bar/, /baz, qux/, | \
           parallel -kN1 --recstart / --pipe echo JOB{#}\;cat\;echo END

       Output:

         JOB1
         /foo, barEND
         JOB2
         /, END
         JOB3
         /baz, quxEND
         JOB4
         /,
         END

       Here both --recend and --recstart are set:

         echo /foo, bar/, /baz, qux/, | \
           parallel -kN1 --recend ', ' --recstart / --pipe \
           echo JOB{#}\;cat\;echo END

       Output:

         JOB1
         /foo, bar/, END
         JOB2
         /baz, qux/,
         END

       Note the difference between setting one string and setting both
       strings.

       With --regexp the --recend and --recstart will be treated as a regular
       expression:

         echo foo,bar,_baz,__qux, | \
           parallel -kN1 --regexp --recend ,_+ --pipe \
           echo JOB{#}\;cat\;echo END

       Output:

         JOB1
         foo,bar,_END
         JOB2
         baz,__END
         JOB3
         qux,
         END

       GNU parallel can remove the record separators with
       --remove-rec-sep/--rrs:

         echo foo,bar,_baz,__qux, | \
           parallel -kN1 --rrs --regexp --recend ,_+ --pipe \
           echo JOB{#}\;cat\;echo END

       Output:

         JOB1
         foo,barEND
         JOB2
         bazEND
         JOB3
         qux,
         END

   Header
       If the input data has a header, the header can be repeated for each job
       by matching the header with --header. If headers start with % you can
       do this:

         cat num_%header | \
           parallel --header '(%.*\n)*' --pipe -N3 echo JOB{#}\;cat

       Output (the order may be different):

         JOB1
         %head1
         %head2
         1
         2
         3
         JOB2
         %head1
         %head2
         4
         5
         6
         JOB3
         %head1
         %head2
         7
         8
         9
         JOB4
         %head1
         %head2
         10

       If the header is 2 lines, --header 2 will work:

         cat num_%header | parallel --header 2 --pipe -N3 echo JOB{#}\;cat

       Output: Same as above.

   --pipepart
       --pipe is not very efficient. It maxes out at around 500 MB/s.
       --pipepart can easily deliver 5 GB/s. But there are a few limitations.
       The input has to be a normal file (not a pipe) given by -a or :::: and
       -L/-l/-N do not work. --recend and --recstart, however, do work, and
       records can often be split on that alone.

         parallel --pipepart -a num1000000 --block 3m wc

       Output (the order may be different):

        444443  444444 3000002
        428572  428572 3000004
        126985  126984  888890

Shebang
   Input data and parallel command in the same file
       GNU parallel is often called as this:

         cat input_file | parallel command

       With --shebang the input_file and parallel can be combined into the
       same script.

       UNIX shell scripts start with a shebang line like this:

         #!/bin/bash

       GNU parallel can do that, too. With --shebang the arguments can be
       listed in the file. The parallel command is the first line of the
       script:

         #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang -r echo

         foo
         bar
         baz

       Output (the order may be different):

         foo
         bar
         baz

   Parallelizing existing scripts
       GNU parallel is often called as this:

         cat input_file | parallel command
         parallel command ::: foo bar

       If command is a script, parallel can be combined into a single file so
       this will run the script in parallel:

         cat input_file | command
         command foo bar

       This perl script perl_echo works like echo:

         #!/usr/bin/perl

         print "@ARGV\n"

       It can be called as this:

         parallel perl_echo ::: foo bar

       By changing the #!-line it can be run in parallel:

         #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/perl

         print "@ARGV\n"

       Thus this will work:

         perl_echo foo bar

       Output (the order may be different):

         foo
         bar

       This technique can be used for:

       Perl:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/perl

                  print "Arguments @ARGV\n";

       Python:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/python

                  import sys
                  print 'Arguments', str(sys.argv)

       Bash/sh/zsh/Korn shell:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /bin/bash

                  echo Arguments "$@"

       csh:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /bin/csh

                  echo Arguments "$argv"

       Tcl:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/tclsh

                  puts "Arguments $argv"

       R:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/Rscript --vanilla --slave

                  args <- commandArgs(trailingOnly = TRUE)
                  print(paste("Arguments ",args))

       GNUplot:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap ARG={} /usr/bin/gnuplot

                  print "Arguments ", system('echo $ARG')

       Ruby:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/ruby

                  print "Arguments "
                  puts ARGV

       Octave:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/octave

                  printf ("Arguments");
                  arg_list = argv ();
                  for i = 1:nargin
                    printf (" %s", arg_list{i});
                  endfor
                  printf ("\n");

       Common LISP:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/clisp

                  (format t "~&~S~&" 'Arguments)
                  (format t "~&~S~&" *args*)

       PHP:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/php
                  <?php
                  echo "Arguments";
                  foreach(array_slice($argv,1) as $v)
                  {
                    echo " $v";
                  }
                  echo "\n";
                  ?>

       Node.js:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/node

                  var myArgs = process.argv.slice(2);
                  console.log('Arguments ', myArgs);

       LUA:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap /usr/bin/lua

                  io.write "Arguments"
                  for a = 1, #arg do
                    io.write(" ")
                    io.write(arg[a])
                  end
                  print("")

       C#:
                  #!/usr/bin/parallel --shebang-wrap ARGV={} /usr/bin/csharp

                  var argv = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ARGV");
                  print("Arguments "+argv);

Semaphore
       GNU parallel can work as a counting semaphore. This is slower and less
       efficient than its normal mode.

       A counting semaphore is like a row of toilets. People needing a toilet
       can use any toilet, but if there are more people than toilets, they
       will have to wait for one of the toilets to become available.

       An alias for parallel --semaphore is sem.

       sem will follow a person to the toilets, wait until a toilet is
       available, leave the person in the toilet and exit.

       sem --fg will follow a person to the toilets, wait until a toilet is
       available, stay with the person in the toilet and exit when the person
       exits.

       sem --wait will wait for all persons to leave the toilets.

       sem does not have a queue discipline, so the next person is chosen
       randomly.

       -j sets the number of toilets.

   Mutex
       The default is to have only one toilet (this is called a mutex). The
       program is started in the background and sem exits immediately. Use
       --wait to wait for all sems to finish:

         sem 'sleep 1; echo The first finished' &&
           echo The first is now running in the background &&
           sem 'sleep 1; echo The second finished' &&
           echo The second is now running in the background
         sem --wait

       Output:

         The first is now running in the background
         The first finished
         The second is now running in the background
         The second finished

       The command can be run in the foreground with --fg, which will only
       exit when the command completes:

         sem --fg 'sleep 1; echo The first finished' &&
           echo The first finished running in the foreground &&
           sem --fg 'sleep 1; echo The second finished' &&
           echo The second finished running in the foreground
         sem --wait

       The difference between this and just running the command, is that a
       mutex is set, so if other sems were running in the background only one
       would run at a time.

       To control which semaphore is used, use --semaphorename/--id. Run this
       in one terminal:

         sem --id my_id -u 'echo First started; sleep 10; echo First done'

       and simultaneously this in another terminal:

         sem --id my_id -u 'echo Second started; sleep 10; echo Second done'

       Note how the second will only be started when the first has finished.

   Counting semaphore
       A mutex is like having a single toilet: When it is in use everyone else
       will have to wait. A counting semaphore is like having multiple
       toilets: Several people can use the toilets, but when they all are in
       use, everyone else will have to wait.

       sem can emulate a counting semaphore. Use --jobs to set the number of
       toilets like this:

         sem --jobs 3 --id my_id -u 'echo Start 1; sleep 5; echo 1 done' &&
         sem --jobs 3 --id my_id -u 'echo Start 2; sleep 6; echo 2 done' &&
         sem --jobs 3 --id my_id -u 'echo Start 3; sleep 7; echo 3 done' &&
         sem --jobs 3 --id my_id -u 'echo Start 4; sleep 8; echo 4 done' &&
         sem --wait --id my_id

       Output:

         Start 1
         Start 2
         Start 3
         1 done
         Start 4
         2 done
         3 done
         4 done

   Timeout
       With --semaphoretimeout you can force running the command anyway after
       a period (positive number) or give up (negative number):

         sem --id foo -u 'echo Slow started; sleep 5; echo Slow ended' &&
         sem --id foo --semaphoretimeout 1 'echo Forced running after 1 sec' &&
         sem --id foo --semaphoretimeout -2 'echo Give up after 2 secs'
         sem --id foo --wait

       Output:

         Slow started
         parallel: Warning: Semaphore timed out. Stealing the semaphore.
         Forced running after 1 sec
         parallel: Warning: Semaphore timed out. Exiting.
         Slow ended

       Note how the 'Give up' was not run.

Informational
       GNU parallel has some options to give short information about the
       configuration.

       --help will print a summary of the most important options:

         parallel --help

       Output:

         Usage:

         parallel [options] [command [arguments]] < list_of_arguments
         parallel [options] [command [arguments]] (::: arguments|:::: argfile(s))...
         cat ... | parallel --pipe [options] [command [arguments]]

         -j n            Run n jobs in parallel
         -k              Keep same order
         -X              Multiple arguments with context replace
         --colsep regexp Split input on regexp for positional replacements
         {} {.} {/} {/.} {#} {%} {= perl code =} Replacement strings
         {3} {3.} {3/} {3/.} {=3 perl code =}    Positional replacement strings
         With --plus:    {} = {+/}/{/} = {.}.{+.} = {+/}/{/.}.{+.} = {..}.{+..} =
                         {+/}/{/..}.{+..} = {...}.{+...} = {+/}/{/...}.{+...}

         -S sshlogin     Example: foo@server.example.com
         --slf ..        Use ~/.parallel/sshloginfile as the list of sshlogins
         --trc {}.bar    Shorthand for --transfer --return {}.bar --cleanup
         --onall         Run the given command with argument on all sshlogins
         --nonall        Run the given command with no arguments on all sshlogins

         --pipe          Split stdin (standard input) to multiple jobs.
         --recend str    Record end separator for --pipe.
         --recstart str  Record start separator for --pipe.

         See 'man parallel' for details

         Academic tradition requires you to cite works you base your article on.
         When using programs that use GNU Parallel to process data for publication
         please cite:

           O. Tange (2011): GNU Parallel - The Command-Line Power Tool,
           ;login: The USENIX Magazine, February 2011:42-47.

         This helps funding further development; AND IT WON'T COST YOU A CENT.
         If you pay 10000 EUR you should feel free to use GNU Parallel without citing.

       When asking for help, always report the full output of this:

         parallel --version

       Output:

         GNU parallel 20210122
         Copyright (C) 2007-2021 Ole Tange, http://ole.tange.dk and Free Software
         Foundation, Inc.
         License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
         This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
         GNU parallel comes with no warranty.

         Web site: https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel

         When using programs that use GNU Parallel to process data for publication
         please cite as described in 'parallel --citation'.

       In scripts --minversion can be used to ensure the user has at least
       this version:

         parallel --minversion 20130722 && \
           echo Your version is at least 20130722.

       Output:

         20160322
         Your version is at least 20130722.

       If you are using GNU parallel for research the BibTeX citation can be
       generated using --citation:

         parallel --citation

       Output:

         Academic tradition requires you to cite works you base your article on.
         When using programs that use GNU Parallel to process data for publication
         please cite:

         @article{Tange2011a,
           title = {GNU Parallel - The Command-Line Power Tool},
           author = {O. Tange},
           address = {Frederiksberg, Denmark},
           journal = {;login: The USENIX Magazine},
           month = {Feb},
           number = {1},
           volume = {36},
           url = {https://www.gnu.org/s/parallel},
           year = {2011},
           pages = {42-47},
           doi = {10.5281/zenodo.16303}
         }

         (Feel free to use \nocite{Tange2011a})

         This helps funding further development; AND IT WON'T COST YOU A CENT.
         If you pay 10000 EUR you should feel free to use GNU Parallel without citing.

         If you send a copy of your published article to tange@gnu.org, it will be
         mentioned in the release notes of next version of GNU Parallel.

       With --max-line-length-allowed GNU parallel will report the maximal
       size of the command line:

         parallel --max-line-length-allowed

       Output (may vary on different systems):

         131071

       --number-of-cpus and --number-of-cores run system specific code to
       determine the number of CPUs and CPU cores on the system. On
       unsupported platforms they will return 1:

         parallel --number-of-cpus
         parallel --number-of-cores

       Output (may vary on different systems):

         4
         64

Profiles
       The defaults for GNU parallel can be changed systemwide by putting the
       command line options in /etc/parallel/config. They can be changed for a
       user by putting them in ~/.parallel/config.

       Profiles work the same way, but have to be referred to with --profile:

         echo '--nice 17' > ~/.parallel/nicetimeout
         echo '--timeout 300%' >> ~/.parallel/nicetimeout
         parallel --profile nicetimeout echo ::: A B C

       Output:

         A
         B
         C

       Profiles can be combined:

         echo '-vv --dry-run' > ~/.parallel/dryverbose
         parallel --profile dryverbose --profile nicetimeout echo ::: A B C

       Output:

         echo A
         echo B
         echo C

Spread the word
       I hope you have learned something from this tutorial.

       If you like GNU parallel:

       o (Re-)walk through the tutorial if you have not done so in the past
         year (https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/parallel_tutorial.html)

       o Give a demo at your local user group/your team/your colleagues

       o Post the intro videos and the tutorial on Reddit, Mastodon,
         Diaspora*, forums, blogs, Identi.ca, Google+, Twitter, Facebook,
         Linkedin, and mailing lists

       o Request or write a review for your favourite blog or magazine
         (especially if you do something cool with GNU parallel)

       o Invite me for your next conference

       If you use GNU parallel for research:

       o Please cite GNU parallel in you publications (use --citation)

       If GNU parallel saves you money:

       o (Have your company) donate to FSF or become a member
         https://my.fsf.org/donate/

       (C) 2013-2021 Ole Tange, GFDLv1.3+ (See LICENSES/GFDL-1.3-or-later.txt)



ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


       +---------------+------------------+
       |ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE  |
       +---------------+------------------+
       |Availability   | shell/parallel   |
       +---------------+------------------+
       |Stability      | Uncommitted      |
       +---------------+------------------+

NOTES
       Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
       be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
       code-downloads.html.

       This software was built from source available at
       https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland.  The original community
       source was downloaded from
       https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/parallel/parallel-20211122.tar.bz2.

       Further information about this software can be found on the open source
       community website at https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel.



20210322                          2021-03-23              PARALLEL_TUTORIAL(7)