watchexec/doc/watchexec.1.ronn

watchexec(1) -- execute commands when watched files change
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## SYNOPSIS

watchexec [`--exts` | `-e` <extensions>]... [`--filter` | `-f` <pattern>]... [`--ignore` | `-i` <pattern>]... [`--restart` | `-r`] [`--clear` | `-c`] [`--postpone` | `-p`] [`--force-poll` <interval>] [`--debug` | `-d`] [`--no-vcs-ignore`] <cmd> [<argument>...]

## DESCRIPTION

Recursively monitors the current directory for changes, executing the command when a filesystem change is detected. By default, watchexec uses efficient kernel-level mechanisms to watch for changes.

At startup, the specified <command> (passing any supplied <argument>s) is run once, and watchexec begins monitoring for changes.

## OPTIONS

* <cmd>:
Command to run when watched files are modified, and at startup, unless `--postpone` is specified. All <argument>s are passed to <cmd>.

* `-e`, `--exts` <extensions>:
Comma-separated list of file extensions to filter by. Leading dots are allowed (.rs) are allowed. (This is a shorthand for `-f`).

* `-f`, `--filter` <pattern>:
Ignores modifications from paths that do not match <pattern>. This option can be specified multiple times, where a match on any given pattern causes the path to trigger *command*.

* `-i`, `--ignore` *pattern*:
Ignores modifications from paths that match <pattern>. This option can be specified multiple times, and a match on any pattern causes the path to be ignored.

* `-r`, `--restart`:
Sends `SIGTERM` to the child process if it is still running when subsequent file modifications are detected, then waits for the child to exit.

* `-c`, `--clear`:
Clears the screen before executing <command>.

* `-p`, `--postpone`:
Postpone execution of <command> until the first file modification is detected.

* `-d`, `--debug`:
Prints diagnostic messages to STDERR

* `--force-poll` <interval>:
Poll for changes every <interval> ms instead of using system-specific notification mechanisms (such as inotify). This is useful when you are monitoring NFS shares.

* `--no-vcs-ignore`:
Skip loading of version control system (VCS) ignore files. By default, watchexec loads .gitignore files in the current directory (or parent directories) and uses them to populate the ignore list.

## ENVIRONMENT

Processes started by watchexec have the `$WATCHEXEC_UPDATED_PATH` environment variable set to the path of the first modification observed. In addition, the `$WATCHEXEC_COMMON_PATH` environment variable is set to the common path of all observed modifications.

## EXAMPLES

Rebuild a project when source files change:

    $ watchexec make

Watch all HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files for changes:

    $ watchexec -e html,css,js make

Run tests when source files change, clearing the screen each time:

    $ watchexec -c make test

Launch and restart a node.js server

    $ watchexec -r node app.js