watchexec/README.md

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#watchexec
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[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/mattgreen/watchexec.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/mattgreen/watchexec)
[![Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/ivxu31g4rcf4740t?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/mattgreen/watchexec)
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Software development often involves running the same commands over and over. Boring!
`watchexec` is a **simple**, standalone tool that watches a path and runs a command whenever it detects modifications.
Example use cases:
* Automatically run unit tests
* Run linters/syntax checkers
##Features
* Simple invocation and use
* Runs on OS X, Linux and Windows
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* Monitors current directory and all subdirectories for changes (use `--watch` to override)
* Uses most efficient event polling mechanism for your platform (except for [BSD](https://github.com/passcod/rsnotify#todo))
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* Coalesces multiple filesystem events into one, for editors that use swap/backup files during saving
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* By default, uses `.gitignore` to determine which files to ignore notifications for
* Support for watching files with a specific extension
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* Support for filtering/ignoring events based on glob patterns
* Launches child processes in a new process group
* Sets `$WATCHEXEC_UPDATED_PATH` in the environment of the child process to the first file that triggered a change
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* Optionally clears screen between executions
* Optionally restarts the command with every modification (good for servers)
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* Does not require a language runtime
##Anti-Features
* Not tied to any particular language or ecosystem
* Does not require a cryptic command line involving `xargs`
##Usage Examples
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Watch all JavaScript, CSS and HTML files in the current directory and all subdirectories for changes, running `make` when a change is detected:
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$ watchexec --exts js,css,html make
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Watch all files below `src` and subdirectories for changes, running `make test` when a change is detected:
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$ watchexec --watch src make test
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Call `make test` when any file changes in this directory/subdirectory, except for everything below `target`:
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$ watchexec -i target make test
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Call/restart `python server.py` when any Python file in the current directory (and all subdirectories) changes:
$ watchexec -e py -r python server.py
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Run `make` when any file changes, using the `.gitignore` file in the current directory to filter:
$ watchexec make
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##Installation
###Cargo (nightly Rust only)
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If you're running nightly Rust, install it using cargo:
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$ cargo install watchexec
If you're using rustup, install it like this:
$ rustup toolchain install nightly
$ rustup run nightly cargo install watchexec
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###OS X with Homebrew
$ brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattgreen/watchexec/master/pkg/brew/watchexec.rb
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###Linux
For now, use the GitHub Releases tab to obtain the binary. PRs for packaging in various distros are welcomed.
###Windows
Use the GitHub Releases tab to obtain the binary. In the future, I'll look at adding it to Chocolatey.
##Building
Currently, **watchexec requires a recent nightly Rust** to build, due to use of unstable features.
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##Credits
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* [notify](https://github.com/passcod/rsnotify) for doing most of the heavy-lifting