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.
Command to run when watched files are modified, and at startup, unless `--postpone` is specified. All <argument>s are passed to <command>. If you pass flags to the command, you should separate it with `--`, for example: `watchexec -w src -- rsync -a src dest`.
Behaviour depends on the value of `--shell`: for all except `none`, every part of <command> is joined together into one string with a single ascii space character, and given to the shell as described. For `none`, each distinct element of <command> is passed as per the execvp(3) convention: first argument is the program, as a file or searched in the `PATH`, rest are arguments.
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>.
The `none` value is especially useful in combination with `--signal`, as the signal is then send directly to the specified command. While `--shell=none` is a little more performant than the default, it prevents using shell-features like pipes and redirects.
If not a special value, the string provided may contain arguments to the shell as long as that is kept simple: the string is split along whitespace, and used as per execvp(3): first is shell program, rest are arguments to the shell, then `-c` is added, and finally the `COMMAND`.
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.
Monitor a specific path for changes. By default, the current working directory is watched. This may be specified multiple times, where a change in any watched directory (and subdirectories) causes <command> to be executed.
Terminates the command if it is still running when subsequent file modifications are detected. By default, sends `SIGTERM`; use `--signal` to change that.
Ignore events while the process is still running. This is distinct from `--restart` in that with this option, events received while the command is running will not trigger a new run immediately after the current command is done.
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.
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.
Processes started by watchexec have environment variables set describing the modification(s) observed. Which variable is set depends on how many modifications were observed and/or what type they were.
If a single file changed (depending on the event type):
* `$WATCHEXEC_CREATED_PATH`, the path of the file that was created
* `$WATCHEXEC_REMOVED_PATH`, the path of the file that was removed
* `$WATCHEXEC_RENAMED_PATH`, the path of the file that was renamed
* `$WATCHEXEC_WRITTEN_PATH`, the path of the file that was modified
* `$WATCHEXEC_META_CHANGED_PATH`, the path of the file whose metadata changed
If multiple files changed:
* `$WATCHEXEC_COMMON_PATH`, the longest common path of all of the files that triggered a change
