Spaces:
Running
Running
# Chokidar [![Weekly downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/chokidar.svg)](https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar) [![Yearly downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dy/chokidar.svg)](https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar) | |
> Minimal and efficient cross-platform file watching library | |
[![NPM](https://nodei.co/npm/chokidar.png)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/chokidar) | |
## Why? | |
Node.js `fs.watch`: | |
* Doesn't report filenames on MacOS. | |
* Doesn't report events at all when using editors like Sublime on MacOS. | |
* Often reports events twice. | |
* Emits most changes as `rename`. | |
* Does not provide an easy way to recursively watch file trees. | |
* Does not support recursive watching on Linux. | |
Node.js `fs.watchFile`: | |
* Almost as bad at event handling. | |
* Also does not provide any recursive watching. | |
* Results in high CPU utilization. | |
Chokidar resolves these problems. | |
Initially made for **[Brunch](https://brunch.io/)** (an ultra-swift web app build tool), it is now used in | |
[Microsoft's Visual Studio Code](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode), | |
[gulp](https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp/), | |
[karma](https://karma-runner.github.io/), | |
[PM2](https://github.com/Unitech/PM2), | |
[browserify](http://browserify.org/), | |
[webpack](https://webpack.github.io/), | |
[BrowserSync](https://www.browsersync.io/), | |
and [many others](https://www.npmjs.com/browse/depended/chokidar). | |
It has proven itself in production environments. | |
Version 3 is out! Check out our blog post about it: [Chokidar 3: How to save 32TB of traffic every week](https://paulmillr.com/posts/chokidar-3-save-32tb-of-traffic/) | |
## How? | |
Chokidar does still rely on the Node.js core `fs` module, but when using | |
`fs.watch` and `fs.watchFile` for watching, it normalizes the events it | |
receives, often checking for truth by getting file stats and/or dir contents. | |
On MacOS, chokidar by default uses a native extension exposing the Darwin | |
`FSEvents` API. This provides very efficient recursive watching compared with | |
implementations like `kqueue` available on most \*nix platforms. Chokidar still | |
does have to do some work to normalize the events received that way as well. | |
On most other platforms, the `fs.watch`-based implementation is the default, which | |
avoids polling and keeps CPU usage down. Be advised that chokidar will initiate | |
watchers recursively for everything within scope of the paths that have been | |
specified, so be judicious about not wasting system resources by watching much | |
more than needed. | |
## Getting started | |
Install with npm: | |
```sh | |
npm install chokidar | |
``` | |
Then `require` and use it in your code: | |
```javascript | |
const chokidar = require('chokidar'); | |
// One-liner for current directory | |
chokidar.watch('.').on('all', (event, path) => { | |
console.log(event, path); | |
}); | |
``` | |
## API | |
```javascript | |
// Example of a more typical implementation structure | |
// Initialize watcher. | |
const watcher = chokidar.watch('file, dir, glob, or array', { | |
ignored: /(^|[\/\\])\../, // ignore dotfiles | |
persistent: true | |
}); | |
// Something to use when events are received. | |
const log = console.log.bind(console); | |
// Add event listeners. | |
watcher | |
.on('add', path => log(`File ${path} has been added`)) | |
.on('change', path => log(`File ${path} has been changed`)) | |
.on('unlink', path => log(`File ${path} has been removed`)); | |
// More possible events. | |
watcher | |
.on('addDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been added`)) | |
.on('unlinkDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been removed`)) | |
.on('error', error => log(`Watcher error: ${error}`)) | |
.on('ready', () => log('Initial scan complete. Ready for changes')) | |
.on('raw', (event, path, details) => { // internal | |
log('Raw event info:', event, path, details); | |
}); | |
// 'add', 'addDir' and 'change' events also receive stat() results as second | |
// argument when available: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats | |
watcher.on('change', (path, stats) => { | |
if (stats) console.log(`File ${path} changed size to ${stats.size}`); | |
}); | |
// Watch new files. | |
watcher.add('new-file'); | |
watcher.add(['new-file-2', 'new-file-3', '**/other-file*']); | |
// Get list of actual paths being watched on the filesystem | |
var watchedPaths = watcher.getWatched(); | |
// Un-watch some files. | |
await watcher.unwatch('new-file*'); | |
// Stop watching. | |
// The method is async! | |
watcher.close().then(() => console.log('closed')); | |
// Full list of options. See below for descriptions. | |
// Do not use this example! | |
chokidar.watch('file', { | |
persistent: true, | |
ignored: '*.txt', | |
ignoreInitial: false, | |
followSymlinks: true, | |
cwd: '.', | |
disableGlobbing: false, | |
usePolling: false, | |
interval: 100, | |
binaryInterval: 300, | |
alwaysStat: false, | |
depth: 99, | |
awaitWriteFinish: { | |
stabilityThreshold: 2000, | |
pollInterval: 100 | |
}, | |
ignorePermissionErrors: false, | |
atomic: true // or a custom 'atomicity delay', in milliseconds (default 100) | |
}); | |
``` | |
`chokidar.watch(paths, [options])` | |
* `paths` (string or array of strings). Paths to files, dirs to be watched | |
recursively, or glob patterns. | |
- Note: globs must not contain windows separators (`\`), | |
because that's how they work by the standard — | |
you'll need to replace them with forward slashes (`/`). | |
- Note 2: for additional glob documentation, check out low-level | |
library: [picomatch](https://github.com/micromatch/picomatch). | |
* `options` (object) Options object as defined below: | |
#### Persistence | |
* `persistent` (default: `true`). Indicates whether the process | |
should continue to run as long as files are being watched. If set to | |
`false` when using `fsevents` to watch, no more events will be emitted | |
after `ready`, even if the process continues to run. | |
#### Path filtering | |
* `ignored` ([anymatch](https://github.com/es128/anymatch)-compatible definition) | |
Defines files/paths to be ignored. The whole relative or absolute path is | |
tested, not just filename. If a function with two arguments is provided, it | |
gets called twice per path - once with a single argument (the path), second | |
time with two arguments (the path and the | |
[`fs.Stats`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats) | |
object of that path). | |
* `ignoreInitial` (default: `false`). If set to `false` then `add`/`addDir` events are also emitted for matching paths while | |
instantiating the watching as chokidar discovers these file paths (before the `ready` event). | |
* `followSymlinks` (default: `true`). When `false`, only the | |
symlinks themselves will be watched for changes instead of following | |
the link references and bubbling events through the link's path. | |
* `cwd` (no default). The base directory from which watch `paths` are to be | |
derived. Paths emitted with events will be relative to this. | |
* `disableGlobbing` (default: `false`). If set to `true` then the strings passed to `.watch()` and `.add()` are treated as | |
literal path names, even if they look like globs. | |
#### Performance | |
* `usePolling` (default: `false`). | |
Whether to use fs.watchFile (backed by polling), or fs.watch. If polling | |
leads to high CPU utilization, consider setting this to `false`. It is | |
typically necessary to **set this to `true` to successfully watch files over | |
a network**, and it may be necessary to successfully watch files in other | |
non-standard situations. Setting to `true` explicitly on MacOS overrides the | |
`useFsEvents` default. You may also set the CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING env variable | |
to true (1) or false (0) in order to override this option. | |
* _Polling-specific settings_ (effective when `usePolling: true`) | |
* `interval` (default: `100`). Interval of file system polling, in milliseconds. You may also | |
set the CHOKIDAR_INTERVAL env variable to override this option. | |
* `binaryInterval` (default: `300`). Interval of file system | |
polling for binary files. | |
([see list of binary extensions](https://github.com/sindresorhus/binary-extensions/blob/master/binary-extensions.json)) | |
* `useFsEvents` (default: `true` on MacOS). Whether to use the | |
`fsevents` watching interface if available. When set to `true` explicitly | |
and `fsevents` is available this supercedes the `usePolling` setting. When | |
set to `false` on MacOS, `usePolling: true` becomes the default. | |
* `alwaysStat` (default: `false`). If relying upon the | |
[`fs.Stats`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats) | |
object that may get passed with `add`, `addDir`, and `change` events, set | |
this to `true` to ensure it is provided even in cases where it wasn't | |
already available from the underlying watch events. | |
* `depth` (default: `undefined`). If set, limits how many levels of | |
subdirectories will be traversed. | |
* `awaitWriteFinish` (default: `false`). | |
By default, the `add` event will fire when a file first appears on disk, before | |
the entire file has been written. Furthermore, in some cases some `change` | |
events will be emitted while the file is being written. In some cases, | |
especially when watching for large files there will be a need to wait for the | |
write operation to finish before responding to a file creation or modification. | |
Setting `awaitWriteFinish` to `true` (or a truthy value) will poll file size, | |
holding its `add` and `change` events until the size does not change for a | |
configurable amount of time. The appropriate duration setting is heavily | |
dependent on the OS and hardware. For accurate detection this parameter should | |
be relatively high, making file watching much less responsive. | |
Use with caution. | |
* *`options.awaitWriteFinish` can be set to an object in order to adjust | |
timing params:* | |
* `awaitWriteFinish.stabilityThreshold` (default: 2000). Amount of time in | |
milliseconds for a file size to remain constant before emitting its event. | |
* `awaitWriteFinish.pollInterval` (default: 100). File size polling interval, in milliseconds. | |
#### Errors | |
* `ignorePermissionErrors` (default: `false`). Indicates whether to watch files | |
that don't have read permissions if possible. If watching fails due to `EPERM` | |
or `EACCES` with this set to `true`, the errors will be suppressed silently. | |
* `atomic` (default: `true` if `useFsEvents` and `usePolling` are `false`). | |
Automatically filters out artifacts that occur when using editors that use | |
"atomic writes" instead of writing directly to the source file. If a file is | |
re-added within 100 ms of being deleted, Chokidar emits a `change` event | |
rather than `unlink` then `add`. If the default of 100 ms does not work well | |
for you, you can override it by setting `atomic` to a custom value, in | |
milliseconds. | |
### Methods & Events | |
`chokidar.watch()` produces an instance of `FSWatcher`. Methods of `FSWatcher`: | |
* `.add(path / paths)`: Add files, directories, or glob patterns for tracking. | |
Takes an array of strings or just one string. | |
* `.on(event, callback)`: Listen for an FS event. | |
Available events: `add`, `addDir`, `change`, `unlink`, `unlinkDir`, `ready`, | |
`raw`, `error`. | |
Additionally `all` is available which gets emitted with the underlying event | |
name and path for every event other than `ready`, `raw`, and `error`. `raw` is internal, use it carefully. | |
* `.unwatch(path / paths)`: Stop watching files, directories, or glob patterns. | |
Takes an array of strings or just one string. | |
* `.close()`: **async** Removes all listeners from watched files. Asynchronous, returns Promise. Use with `await` to ensure bugs don't happen. | |
* `.getWatched()`: Returns an object representing all the paths on the file | |
system being watched by this `FSWatcher` instance. The object's keys are all the | |
directories (using absolute paths unless the `cwd` option was used), and the | |
values are arrays of the names of the items contained in each directory. | |
## CLI | |
If you need a CLI interface for your file watching, check out | |
[chokidar-cli](https://github.com/open-cli-tools/chokidar-cli), allowing you to | |
execute a command on each change, or get a stdio stream of change events. | |
## Install Troubleshooting | |
* `npm WARN optional dep failed, continuing fsevents@n.n.n` | |
* This message is normal part of how `npm` handles optional dependencies and is | |
not indicative of a problem. Even if accompanied by other related error messages, | |
Chokidar should function properly. | |
* `TypeError: fsevents is not a constructor` | |
* Update chokidar by doing `rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json yarn.lock && npm install`, or update your dependency that uses chokidar. | |
* Chokidar is producing `ENOSP` error on Linux, like this: | |
* `bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Inappropriate ioctl for device bash: no job control in this shell` | |
`Error: watch /home/ ENOSPC` | |
* This means Chokidar ran out of file handles and you'll need to increase their count by executing the following command in Terminal: | |
`echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p` | |
## Changelog | |
For more detailed changelog, see [`full_changelog.md`](.github/full_changelog.md). | |
- **v3.5 (Jan 6, 2021):** Support for ARM Macs with Apple Silicon. Fixes for deleted symlinks. | |
- **v3.4 (Apr 26, 2020):** Support for directory-based symlinks. Fixes for macos file replacement. | |
- **v3.3 (Nov 2, 2019):** `FSWatcher#close()` method became async. That fixes IO race conditions related to close method. | |
- **v3.2 (Oct 1, 2019):** Improve Linux RAM usage by 50%. Race condition fixes. Windows glob fixes. Improve stability by using tight range of dependency versions. | |
- **v3.1 (Sep 16, 2019):** dotfiles are no longer filtered out by default. Use `ignored` option if needed. Improve initial Linux scan time by 50%. | |
- **v3 (Apr 30, 2019):** massive CPU & RAM consumption improvements; reduces deps / package size by a factor of 17x and bumps Node.js requirement to v8.16 and higher. | |
- **v2 (Dec 29, 2017):** Globs are now posix-style-only; without windows support. Tons of bugfixes. | |
- **v1 (Apr 7, 2015):** Glob support, symlink support, tons of bugfixes. Node 0.8+ is supported | |
- **v0.1 (Apr 20, 2012):** Initial release, extracted from [Brunch](https://github.com/brunch/brunch/blob/9847a065aea300da99bd0753f90354cde9de1261/src/helpers.coffee#L66) | |
## Also | |
Why was chokidar named this way? What's the meaning behind it? | |
>Chowkidar is a transliteration of a Hindi word meaning 'watchman, gatekeeper', चौकीदार. This ultimately comes from Sanskrit _ चतुष्क_ (crossway, quadrangle, consisting-of-four). | |
## License | |
MIT (c) Paul Miller (<https://paulmillr.com>), see [LICENSE](LICENSE) file. | |