# yes

_Peios / Using Peios / Peiosutils / Output and evaluation_

> Print a line repeatedly until stopped.

`yes` prints a line over and over, without stopping.

```
yes [string...]
```

```
$ yes
y
y
y
...
```

With no argument it prints `y` forever. Given arguments, it prints them — joined by spaces — as the repeated line instead.

```
$ yes retry
retry
retry
...
```

`yes` never stops on its own. It ends when something downstream closes the pipe, or when you interrupt it with Ctrl-C.

## What it is for

`yes` exists to **answer prompts**. An older interactive command that asks "are you sure? [y/n]" again and again can be fed a stream of confirmations:

```
$ yes | slow-interactive-command
```

Most modern commands have a proper option for this — `rm -f`, and similar — and that is the better way when it exists. `yes` is the fallback for a command that offers no such option. It is also a quick way to generate an endless stream of identical lines for a test.

## Exit status

| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `0` | The output was closed normally. |
| `1` | A write error occurred. |

Related content:

- [Output and evaluation](/peios/using-peios/peiosutils/output-and-evaluation/overview.md)