=head1 B<NAME>

B<xdshbak> - Formats the output of the B<xdsh> command.

=head1 B<SYNOPSIS>

B<xdshbak> [B<-c> | B<-x>]

=head1 B<DESCRIPTION>

The  B<xdshbak>  command formats output from the B<xdsh> command. The B<xdshbak>
command takes, as input, lines in the following format:

host_name: line of output from remote command

The B<xdshbak> command formats the lines as follows  and  writes  them  to
standard  output. Assume that the output from node3 and node4
is identical, and the B<-c> (collapse) flag was specified:

 HOSTS --------------------------------------------------------
 node1
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 .
 .
 lines from xdsh for node1 with hostnames stripped off
 .
 .
 HOSTS --------------------------------------------------------
 node2
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 .
 .
 lines from xdsh for node2 with hostnames stripped off
 .
 .
 HOSTS --------------------------------------------------------
 node3, node4
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 .
 .
 lines from xdsh for node 3 with hostnames stripped off
 .
 .

When output is displayed from more than one node in collapsed form, the
host  names are displayed alphabetically. When output is not collapsed,
output is displayed sorted alphabetically by  host  name.  The  B<xdshbak>
command writes "." for each 1000 lines of output processed (to show progress),
since it won't display the output until it has processed all of it.

If  the  B<-x> flag is specified, the extra header lines that xdshbak nor-
mally displays for each node will be omitted, and the hostname at the beginning
of each line is not stripped off, but B<xdshbak>  still  sorts
the output by hostname for easier viewing:

 node1: lines from xdsh for node1
 .
 .
 node2: lines from xdsh for node2
 .
 .

B<Standard> B<Error>

When  the B<xdshbak> filter is used and standard error messages are gener-
ated, all error messages on standard error appear before  all  standard
output messages. This is true with and without the B<-c> flag.

=head1 B<OPTIONS>

=over 4

=item B<-c>

If the output from multiple nodes is identical it will be collapsed
and displayed only once.

=item B<-x>

Omit the extra header lines that xdshbak normally displays for
each node.  This provides
more  compact  output,  but  xdshbak still sorts the output by
node name for easier viewing.
This option should not be used with B<-c>.

=back


=head1 B<EXAMPLES>

=over 3

=item *

To  display the results of a command issued on several nodes, in
the format used in the Description, enter:

B<xdsh> I<node1,node2,node3 cat /etc/passwd> | B<xdshbak>

=item *

To display the results of a command issued on several nodes  with
identical output displayed only once, enter:

B<xdsh> I<host1,host2,host3 pwd> | B<xdshbak -c>

=item *

To display the results of a command issued on several nodes with
compact output and be sorted alphabetically by host name, enter:

B<xdsh> I<host1,host2,host3 date> | B<xdshbak -x>

=back

=head1 B<SEE ALSO>

xdsh(1), xcoll(1)