Linux commands - piping commands

Question

I tried the following command find ~/dir1 *.m4a | play

Directory dir1 has exactly 1 m4a file in it and I'd like it to be played Yet I get a usage error from play. Why?

Are you sure that play accepts files from its STDIN?

KARASZI István
– KARASZI István

2012-06-15 10:54:36 +00:00
Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 10:54 — KARASZI István
– KARASZI István, Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 10:54

Miquel · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 10:56:56Z

3

What you wrote instructs the output of the find command (an m4a file) to be send over as the input to the next command, play.

Now, I have no idea what that play exactly is, but most likely, it's syntax is of the type:

play filename

But what you wrote translates to:

play < "filename"

So, what you probably want to do is use a command like xargs, which will do exactly that:

find ~/dir1 *.m4a | xargs play

Which results in:

play foundfile1 foundfile2 ...

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 10:56

Miquel

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Jim Garrison · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-16 05:19:43Z

2

May be play don't use STDIN so you have to use xargs

 find ~/dir1 \*.m4a |xargs play

edited Jun 16, 2012 at 5:19

Jim Garrison

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answered Jun 15, 2012 at 10:58

ob_dev

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1 Comment

Jim Garrison Over a year ago

You got lucky that the current directory didn't also contain a.m4a file, in which case your original answer would not work. You MUST escape shell metacharacters in patterns for find. I have updated your answer.

matt freake · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 10:59:05Z

1

You are trying to pipe the contents of the file into play (i.e. sending it in via STDIN). As far as I can see from the play man page, it can't do this.

You want to send the filename that find to play, like this:

find ~/dir1 *.m4a | xargs play

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 10:59

matt freake

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nsfyn55 · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 11:02:41Z

1

Use find -name *.mp4 -exec play {} /;

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 11:02

nsfyn55

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theforce · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 10:57:04Z

-1

Try the other way:

play ~/dir1 *.m4a

If not working - check if play support m4a

or try with xargs in your pip line

xargs play

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 10:57

theforce

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