.\"
.hys 50
.TH "par" "1" "18 December 2007"
.SH NAME
par \- parallel command processing
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B par
[\fB\-dfiqx\fP]
[\c
.BI \-c\ 
command]
[\c
.BI \-l\ 
logfile]
[\c
.BI \-n\c
 #]
file
[file...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B par
takes a list of files to run a command on.  The first line of each file begins
with a colon (:) or a pound-sign (#).  If a colon, the remainder of the
line is a command to run for each of the subsequent lines.  If a pound-sign,
then each subsequent line is a (self-contained) command, unless the 
.B \-c
option was specified, in which case it operates as if the argument to
.B \-c
had followed a colon on the first line.
.PP
In each of the cases where the lines of the file following the first are
not commands (i.e.: colon or -c), instances of open-close braces ({}) in the
command will be replaced by these values.
.PP
For example, a inputfile whose contents is:
.sp
	: echo {}
.br
	a
.br
	b
.br
	c
.sp
run with
.B par
like so:
.sp
	%par -q inputfile
.sp
will produce the following output (order will vary):
.sp
	b
.br
	a
.br
	c
.PP
The command-line options are as follows:
.PP
.TP
.B \-c
Command to be run on each of the arguments following the command-line
options, where the first line of the input file(s) begins with a pound-sign
(#).
.\"
.TP
.B \-d
Print debugging information on standard error (stderr).
.\"
.TP
.B \-f
No file or STDIN, just run a quantity of the command specified with -c.
.\"
.TP
.B \-i
Run commands interactively through (multiple) 
.BR xterm (1)
processes.
.\"
.TP
.B \-l
Prefix of logfile name, as in prefix.N where N is the
.B par
process number ([0..]).
.sp
Default: par.log.<time>.[0..]
.\"
.TP
.B \-n
Number of simultaneous processes.
.sp
Default: 3
.\"
.TP
.B \-q
Quiet mode.  Do not log anything.
.B \-q
is mutually exclusive with the
.B \-x
and
.B \-l
options and the option appearing last will take precedence.
.\"
.TP
.B \-x
View par logs in real-time via an 
.BR xterm (1).
.El
.SH FILES
.br
.nf
.\" set tabstop to longest possible filename, plus a wee bit
.ta \w'par.log.1006028679.00  'u
\fIpar.log.T.N\fR Log file; where T is the current time in seconds since the
epoch and N is the par process number ([0..]).
.\"
.\" .SH "SEE ALSO"
.\" .BR expect (1)