2-node-supercomputer.net 2023-03-15
inotifywait
Sometimes you want to wait on a file change, and then do something.
For example, you modify a source code file, and whenever you save, you want to compile.
inotifywait
from the inotify-tools
package to the rescue!
However, it only outputs that something changed, so pipe the output to clear the terminal and call make
:
inotifywait -m -e close_write *.ly *.ily |
while read line; do clear; make; done
The -m
option says to keep monitoring, -e close_write
monitors for programs closing a file that had been opened for writing, and *.ly *.ily
are the file patterns to monitor.
There is also fsnotifywait
and fsnotifywatch
and inotifywatch
. One day I will find out the difference.