watchexec/README.md
2016-10-15 10:25:37 -04:00

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#watchexec
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
##Status
Beta: Adding final features and polish
##Features
* Simple invocation and use
* Runs on OS X, Linux and Windows
* 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))
* Coalesces multiple filesystem events into one, for editors that use swap/backup files during saving
* By default, uses `.gitignore` to filter for changes
* Support for watching files with a specific extension
* Support for filtering/ignoring events based on glob patterns
* Optionally clears screen between executions
* Optionally restarts the command with every modification (good for servers)
* 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
Watch all JavaScript, CSS and HTML files in the current directory and all subdirectories for changes, running `make` when a change is detected:
$ watchexec --exts js,css,html make
Watch all files below `src` and subdirectories for changes, running `make test` when a change is detected:
$ watchexec --watch src make test
Call `make test` when any file changes in this directory/subdirectory, except for everything below `target`:
$ watchexec -i target make
Call/restart `python server.py` when any Python file in the current directory (and all subdirectories) changes:
$ watchexec -e py -r python server.py
Run `make` when any file changes, using the `.gitignore` file in the current directory to filter:
$ watchexec make
##Installation
###OS X with Homebrew
$ brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattgreen/watchexec/master/pkg/brew/watchexec.rb
##Credits
* [notify](https://github.com/passcod/rsnotify) for doing most of the heavy-lifting