The xargs command is typically used to take output from a command that generates a list of items, one per line, and then applies another command to each item. This turns the multi-line input into arguments for the given command, effectively allowing that command to be run for each input item. For example, cat list.txt | xargs rm would attempt to run the rm command on each line listed in list.txt. Other answers are incorrect because they misinterpret the functionality of xargs or describe capabilities it does not possess.