watchexec/doc/watchexec.1

.\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
.\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
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.TH "WATCHEXEC" "1" "November 2016" "" ""
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.SH "NAME"
\fBwatchexec\fR \- execute commands when watched files change
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.SH "SYNOPSIS"
watchexec [\fB\-\-exts\fR | \fB\-e\fR \fIextensions\fR]\.\.\. [\fB\-\-filter\fR | \fB\-f\fR \fIpattern\fR]\.\.\. [\fB\-\-ignore\fR | \fB\-i\fR \fIpattern\fR]\.\.\. [\fB\-\-restart\fR | \fB\-r\fR] [\fB\-\-clear\fR | \fB\-c\fR] [\fB\-\-postpone\fR | \fB\-p\fR] [\fB\-\-force\-poll\fR \fIinterval\fR] [\fB\-\-debug\fR | \fB\-d\fR] [\fB\-\-no\-vcs\-ignore\fR] \fIcmd\fR [\fIargument\fR\.\.\.]
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.SH "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\.
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.P
At startup, the specified \fIcommand\fR (passing any supplied \fIargument\fRs) is run once, and watchexec begins monitoring for changes\.
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.SH "OPTIONS"
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.TP
\fIcmd\fR
Command to run when watched files are modified, and at startup, unless \fB\-\-postpone\fR is specified\. All \fIargument\fRs are passed to \fIcmd\fR\.
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.TP
\fB\-e\fR, \fB\-\-exts\fR \fIextensions\fR
Comma\-separated list of file extensions to filter by\. Leading dots are allowed (\.rs) are allowed\. (This is a shorthand for \fB\-f\fR)\.
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.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-filter\fR \fIpattern\fR
Ignores modifications from paths that do not match \fIpattern\fR\. This option can be specified multiple times, where a match on any given pattern causes the path to trigger \fIcommand\fR\.
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.TP
\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-ignore\fR \fIpattern\fR
Ignores modifications from paths that match \fIpattern\fR\. This option can be specified multiple times, and a match on any pattern causes the path to be ignored\.
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.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-restart\fR
Sends \fBSIGTERM\fR to the child process if it is still running when subsequent file modifications are detected, then waits for the child to exit\.
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.TP
\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-clear\fR
Clears the screen before executing \fIcommand\fR\.
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.TP
\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-postpone\fR
Postpone execution of \fIcommand\fR until the first file modification is detected\.
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.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-debug\fR
Prints diagnostic messages to STDERR
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.TP
\fB\-\-force\-poll\fR \fIinterval\fR
Poll for changes every \fIinterval\fR ms instead of using system\-specific notification mechanisms (such as inotify)\. This is useful when you are monitoring NFS shares\.
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.TP
\fB\-\-no\-vcs\-ignore\fR
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\.
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.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
Processes started by watchexec have the \fB$WATCHEXEC_UPDATED_PATH\fR environment variable set to the path of the first modification observed\. In addition, the \fB$WATCHEXEC_COMMON_PATH\fR environment variable is set to the common path of all observed modifications\.
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.SH "EXAMPLES"
Rebuild a project when source files change:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ watchexec make
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Watch all HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files for changes:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ watchexec \-e html,css,js make
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Run tests when source files change, clearing the screen each time:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ watchexec \-c make test
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Launch and restart a node\.js server
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ watchexec \-r node app\.js
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.fi
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.IP "" 0