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https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher

Ruby gem to perform actions when files are changed. No config files. Pure Ruby implementation and minimalistic Ruby API.
https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher

Last synced: 11 days ago
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Ruby gem to perform actions when files are changed. No config files. Pure Ruby implementation and minimalistic Ruby API.

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# Filewatcher

[![Gem Version](https://img.shields.io/gem/v/filewatcher?include_prereleases&style=flat-square)](https://rubygems.org/gems/filewatcher)
[![Build Status](https://img.shields.io/cirrus/github/filewatcher/filewatcher?style=flat-square)](https://cirrus-ci.com/github/filewatcher/filewatcher)
[![Codecov](https://img.shields.io/codecov/c/gh/filewatcher/filewatcher?style=flat-square)](https://codecov.io/gh/filewatcher/filewatcher)
[![Depfu](https://img.shields.io/depfu/filewatcher/filewatcher?style=flat-square)](https://depfu.com/github/filewatcher/filewatcher)
[![Code Climate](https://img.shields.io/codeclimate/maintainability/filewatcher/filewatcher?style=flat-square)](https://codeclimate.com/github/filewatcher/filewatcher)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/filewatcher/filewatcher.svg?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher/blob/main/LICENSE)

Lightweight file watcher weighing about 300 LOC.
No runtime dependencies and no platform specific code.
Works everywhere.
Monitors changes in the file system by polling.
Has no config files.

## Installation

```bash
$ gem install filewatcher
```

or with `bundler`:

```ruby
# Gemfile
gem 'filewatcher'
```

## Usage

Watch a list of files and directories:

```ruby
require 'filewatcher'

Filewatcher.new(['lib/', 'Rakefile']).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, event|
puts "#{filename} #{event}"
end
end
```

Watch a single directory, for changes in all files and subdirectories:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new('lib/').watch do |changes|
# ...
end
```

Notice that the previous is equivalent to the following:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new('lib/**/*').watch do |changes|
# ...
end
```

Watch files and directories in the given directory - and not in subdirectories:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new('lib/*').watch do |changes|
# ...
end
```

Watch an absolute directory:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new('/tmp/foo').watch do |changes|
# ...
end
```

To detect if a file is updated, added or deleted:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new(['README.rdoc']).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, event|
puts "File #{event}: #{filename}"
end
end
```

When a file is renamed and `every` option is enabled, it is detected as
a new file followed by a file deletion:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new(['lib/'], every: true).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, event|
puts "File #{event}: #{filename}"
end
end

# Rename from `old_test.rb` to `new_test.rb` will print:

# File created: /absolute/path/lib/new_test.rb
# File deleted: /absolute/path/lib/old_test.rb
```

The API takes some of the same options as the command line interface.
To watch all files recursively except files that matches \*.rb
and only wait for 0.1 seconds between each scan:

```ruby
Filewatcher.new('**/*.*', exclude: '**/*.rb', interval: 0.1).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, event|
puts filename
end
end
```

Use patterns to match filenames in current directory and subdirectories.
The pattern is not a regular expression;
instead it follows rules similar to shell filename globbing.
See Ruby [documentation](http://www.ruby-doc.org/core-2.1.1/File.html#method-c-fnmatch) for syntax.

```ruby
Filewatcher.new(['*.rb', '*.xml']).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, _event|
puts "Updated #{filename}"
end
end
```

Start, pause, resume, stop, and finalize a running watch.
This is particularly useful when the update block takes a while to process each file
(e.g. sending over the network).

```ruby
filewatcher = Filewatcher.new(['*.rb'])
thread = Thread.new(filewatcher) { |fw| fw.watch { |changes| p changes } }
# ...
filewatcher.pause # block stops responding to file system changes
filewatcher.finalize # Ensure all file system changes made prior to
# pausing are handled.
# ...
filewatcher.resume # block begins responding again, but is not given
# changes made between #pause_watch and
# #resume_watch
# ...
filewatcher.stop # block stops responding to file system changes
# and takes a final snapshot of the file system
thread.join

filewatcher.finalize # Ensure all file system changes made prior to
# ending the watch are handled.
```

If basename, relative filename or absolute filename is necessary
use the standard [`pathname`](https://ruby-doc.org/stdlib/libdoc/pathname/rdoc/Pathname.html)
like this:

```ruby
require 'pathname'

Filewatcher.new(['**/*.*']).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, event|
path = Pathname.new(filename)
puts "Basename : #{path.basename}"
puts "Relative filename: #{File.join('.', path)}"
puts "Absolute filename: #{path.realpath}"
end
end
```

### Plugins

You can require plugins for Filewatcher, which extends core functionality.

Example:

```ruby
require 'filewatcher'
require 'filewatcher-spinner'

# With the `true` value of option there will be an ASCII spinner in the STDOUT while waiting changes
Filewatcher.new('lib/', spinner: true).watch do |changes|
changes.each do |filename, event|
puts "#{filename} #{event}"
end
end
```

Available methods are:

* `#after_initialize`
* `#before_pause_sleep`
* `#before_resume_sleep`
* `#after_stop`
* `#finalizing`

If you have questions, problems or suggestions about plugins system — please,
don't hesitate to [create a new issue](https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher/issues/new).

Official plugins:

* [CLI](https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher-cli)
* [Matrix](https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher-matrix)
* [Spinner](https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher-spinner)
* [Access](https://github.com/filewatcher/filewatcher-access)

## Changelog

Changelog can be found in [an adjacent file](CHANGELOG.md).

## Credits

This project would not be where it is today without the generous help provided by people reporting issues and these contributors:

* [Thomas Flemming](https://github.com/thomasfl): Original author. Restart option. Exported variables.

* [Penn Taylor](https://github.com/penntaylor): Spinner displayed in the terminal and Start, pause, resume, stop, and finalize a running watch.

* [Franco Leonardo Bulgarelli](https://github.com/flbulgarelli): Support for absolute and globbed paths.

* [Kristoffer Roupé](https://github.com/kitofr): Command line globbing.

* [Alexander Popov](https://github.com/AlexWayfer): Plugin system, daemon mode (CLI), tests improvements, code style improvements, many other fixes and improvements.

This gem was initially inspired by [Tom Lieber's blog posting](http://alltom.com/pages/detecting-file-changes-with-ruby) ([Web Archive version](http://web.archive.org/web/20120208094934/http://alltom.com/pages/detecting-file-changes-with-ruby)).

## Note on Patches/Pull Requests

* Fork the project.
* Make your feature addition or bug fix.
* Add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
* Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)
* Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

## Releasing

This section is for maintainers.

Use `toys gem release 9.8.7` for releasing new versions.
It'll make changes to the `version.rb` file,
`CHANGELOG.md` (with confirmation, feel free to edit before continue),
make a git commit, a git tag, push them, build a gem, push the gem.

## Copyright

Copyright (c) 2010 - 2024 Thomas Flemming. See LICENSE for details.