[Unix Pipe] find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" | transmission-show

 

 find .  -maxdepth 1  -type f  -name "*.torrent" | transmission-show
tell me how to write this pipe correctly.

 

 

The reason your current pipe isn't working is that transmission-show expects a file path as an argument, but a pipe (|) sends the text (the filenames) to the program's standard input (stdin).

To bridge this gap, you need a tool that converts those lines of text into actual command arguments.

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Solution 1: Using xargs (Recommended)

This is the most common way to handle this. xargs takes the output from find and passes it as arguments to transmission-show.

Bash

 

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" | xargs -I {} transmission-show "{}"

• -I {}: This tells xargs to use {} as a placeholder for the filename.

• "{}": Quoting the placeholder ensures that filenames with spaces don't break the command.

Solution 2: Using find -exec (Cleaner)

You actually don't need a pipe at all. The find command has a built-in feature to run commands on every file it discovers.

Bash

 

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" -exec transmission-show {} \;

• -exec ... {}: Runs the command for every match.

• \;: This tells find where the command ends.

Solution 3: The "Modern" Way (GNU Parallel)

If you have a massive list of files and want to see the output faster, you can run them in parallel:

Bash

 

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" | parallel transmission-show

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Which one should you use?

Method	Best For...
xargs	Standard piping workflows and complex tool chains.
-exec	Simplicity; it's self-contained within the find command.
parallel	Processing hundreds of files simultaneously.

Pro Tip: If your filenames have weird characters or newlines, use find . -print0 | xargs -0 to ensure the shell doesn't get confused by the formatting.

Would you like me to show you how to redirect all that output into a single text file for easier reading?

 

Since transmission-show outputs a lot of metadata for every single file (trackers, file lists, piece hashes), running it on a batch of files will likely flood your terminal.

Redirecting the output to a file allows you to search through it later or keep a log of your torrent data.

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1. The Simple Redirect

This will create a file named torrents_info.txt containing the output for every file found.

Bash

 

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" -exec transmission-show {} \; > torrents_info.txt

• >: This creates (or overwrites) the file.

• >>: Use this instead if you want to append to an existing file without deleting its current contents.

2. Including the Filename

By default, transmission-show displays internal torrent info, but it might not clearly label which file it's looking at in the text log. You can force it to print the filename first:

Bash

 

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" -exec echo "FILE: {}" \; -exec transmission-show {} \; > torrents_info.txt

3. The "See it and Save it" Method (tee)

If you want to watch the output scroll by in your terminal and save it to a file at the same time, use the tee command:

Bash

 

find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name "*.torrent" -exec transmission-show {} \; | tee torrents_info.txt

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Summary of Redirection Symbols

Symbol	Action
>	Write output to a file (overwrite existing).
>>	Append output to the end of a file.
2>	Redirect only errors to a file.
`	tee`

Would you like me to help you write a script that filters for specific info—like just the Magnet Links or Trackers—from those files?