watch for filesystem

Watch for file changes and execute Nu code when they happen.

Signature

> watch (path) (closure) --debounce-ms --glob --recursive --verbose

Parameters

  • path: the path to watch. Can be a file or directory
  • closure: Some Nu code to run whenever a file changes. The closure will be passed operation, path, and new_path (for renames only) arguments in that order
  • --debounce-ms {int}: Debounce changes for this many milliseconds (default: 100). Adjust if you find that single writes are reported as multiple events
  • --glob {string}: Only report changes for files that match this glob pattern (default: all files)
  • --recursive {bool}: Watch all directories under <path> recursively. Will be ignored if <path> is a file (default: true)
  • --verbose (-v): Operate in verbose mode (default: false)

Input/output types:

inputoutput
nothingtable

Examples

Run cargo test whenever a Rust file changes

> watch . --glob=**/*.rs {|| cargo test }

Watch all changes in the current directory

> watch . { |op, path, new_path| $"($op) ($path) ($new_path)"}

Log all changes in a directory

> watch /foo/bar { |op, path| $"($op) - ($path)(char nl)" | save --append changes_in_bar.log }

Note: if you are looking to run a command every N units of time, this can be accomplished with a loop and sleep

> loop { command; sleep duration }