[6a3a178] | 1 | # 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)
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| 2 |
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| 3 | > Minimal and efficient cross-platform file watching library
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| 4 |
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| 5 | [![NPM](https://nodei.co/npm/chokidar.png)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/chokidar)
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| 6 |
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| 7 | ## Why?
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| 8 |
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| 9 | Node.js `fs.watch`:
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| 10 |
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| 11 | * Doesn't report filenames on MacOS.
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| 12 | * Doesn't report events at all when using editors like Sublime on MacOS.
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| 13 | * Often reports events twice.
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| 14 | * Emits most changes as `rename`.
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| 15 | * Does not provide an easy way to recursively watch file trees.
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| 16 | * Does not support recursive watching on Linux.
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| 17 |
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| 18 | Node.js `fs.watchFile`:
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| 19 |
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| 20 | * Almost as bad at event handling.
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| 21 | * Also does not provide any recursive watching.
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| 22 | * Results in high CPU utilization.
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| 23 |
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| 24 | Chokidar resolves these problems.
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| 25 |
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| 26 | Initially made for **[Brunch](https://brunch.io/)** (an ultra-swift web app build tool), it is now used in
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| 27 | [Microsoft's Visual Studio Code](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode),
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| 28 | [gulp](https://github.com/gulpjs/gulp/),
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| 29 | [karma](https://karma-runner.github.io/),
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| 30 | [PM2](https://github.com/Unitech/PM2),
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| 31 | [browserify](http://browserify.org/),
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| 32 | [webpack](https://webpack.github.io/),
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| 33 | [BrowserSync](https://www.browsersync.io/),
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| 34 | and [many others](https://www.npmjs.com/browse/depended/chokidar).
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| 35 | It has proven itself in production environments.
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| 36 |
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| 37 | 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/)
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| 38 |
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| 39 | ## How?
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| 40 |
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| 41 | Chokidar does still rely on the Node.js core `fs` module, but when using
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| 42 | `fs.watch` and `fs.watchFile` for watching, it normalizes the events it
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| 43 | receives, often checking for truth by getting file stats and/or dir contents.
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| 44 |
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| 45 | On MacOS, chokidar by default uses a native extension exposing the Darwin
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| 46 | `FSEvents` API. This provides very efficient recursive watching compared with
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| 47 | implementations like `kqueue` available on most \*nix platforms. Chokidar still
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| 48 | does have to do some work to normalize the events received that way as well.
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| 49 |
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| 50 | On most other platforms, the `fs.watch`-based implementation is the default, which
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| 51 | avoids polling and keeps CPU usage down. Be advised that chokidar will initiate
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| 52 | watchers recursively for everything within scope of the paths that have been
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| 53 | specified, so be judicious about not wasting system resources by watching much
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| 54 | more than needed.
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| 55 |
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| 56 | ## Getting started
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| 57 |
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| 58 | Install with npm:
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| 59 |
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| 60 | ```sh
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| 61 | npm install chokidar
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| 62 | ```
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| 63 |
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| 64 | Then `require` and use it in your code:
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| 65 |
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| 66 | ```javascript
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| 67 | const chokidar = require('chokidar');
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| 68 |
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| 69 | // One-liner for current directory
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| 70 | chokidar.watch('.').on('all', (event, path) => {
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| 71 | console.log(event, path);
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| 72 | });
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| 73 | ```
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| 74 |
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| 75 | ## API
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| 76 |
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| 77 | ```javascript
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| 78 | // Example of a more typical implementation structure
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| 79 |
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| 80 | // Initialize watcher.
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| 81 | const watcher = chokidar.watch('file, dir, glob, or array', {
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| 82 | ignored: /(^|[\/\\])\../, // ignore dotfiles
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| 83 | persistent: true
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| 84 | });
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| 85 |
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| 86 | // Something to use when events are received.
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| 87 | const log = console.log.bind(console);
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| 88 | // Add event listeners.
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| 89 | watcher
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| 90 | .on('add', path => log(`File ${path} has been added`))
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| 91 | .on('change', path => log(`File ${path} has been changed`))
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| 92 | .on('unlink', path => log(`File ${path} has been removed`));
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| 93 |
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| 94 | // More possible events.
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| 95 | watcher
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| 96 | .on('addDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been added`))
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| 97 | .on('unlinkDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been removed`))
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| 98 | .on('error', error => log(`Watcher error: ${error}`))
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| 99 | .on('ready', () => log('Initial scan complete. Ready for changes'))
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| 100 | .on('raw', (event, path, details) => { // internal
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| 101 | log('Raw event info:', event, path, details);
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| 102 | });
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| 103 |
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| 104 | // 'add', 'addDir' and 'change' events also receive stat() results as second
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| 105 | // argument when available: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats
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| 106 | watcher.on('change', (path, stats) => {
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| 107 | if (stats) console.log(`File ${path} changed size to ${stats.size}`);
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| 108 | });
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| 109 |
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| 110 | // Watch new files.
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| 111 | watcher.add('new-file');
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| 112 | watcher.add(['new-file-2', 'new-file-3', '**/other-file*']);
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| 113 |
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| 114 | // Get list of actual paths being watched on the filesystem
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| 115 | var watchedPaths = watcher.getWatched();
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| 116 |
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| 117 | // Un-watch some files.
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| 118 | await watcher.unwatch('new-file*');
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| 119 |
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| 120 | // Stop watching.
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| 121 | // The method is async!
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| 122 | watcher.close().then(() => console.log('closed'));
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| 123 |
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| 124 | // Full list of options. See below for descriptions.
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| 125 | // Do not use this example!
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| 126 | chokidar.watch('file', {
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| 127 | persistent: true,
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| 128 |
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| 129 | ignored: '*.txt',
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| 130 | ignoreInitial: false,
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| 131 | followSymlinks: true,
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| 132 | cwd: '.',
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| 133 | disableGlobbing: false,
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| 134 |
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| 135 | usePolling: false,
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| 136 | interval: 100,
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| 137 | binaryInterval: 300,
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| 138 | alwaysStat: false,
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| 139 | depth: 99,
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| 140 | awaitWriteFinish: {
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| 141 | stabilityThreshold: 2000,
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| 142 | pollInterval: 100
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| 143 | },
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| 144 |
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| 145 | ignorePermissionErrors: false,
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| 146 | atomic: true // or a custom 'atomicity delay', in milliseconds (default 100)
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| 147 | });
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| 148 |
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| 149 | ```
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| 150 |
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| 151 | `chokidar.watch(paths, [options])`
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| 152 |
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| 153 | * `paths` (string or array of strings). Paths to files, dirs to be watched
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| 154 | recursively, or glob patterns.
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| 155 | - Note: globs must not contain windows separators (`\`),
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| 156 | because that's how they work by the standard —
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| 157 | you'll need to replace them with forward slashes (`/`).
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| 158 | - Note 2: for additional glob documentation, check out low-level
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| 159 | library: [picomatch](https://github.com/micromatch/picomatch).
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| 160 | * `options` (object) Options object as defined below:
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| 161 |
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| 162 | #### Persistence
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| 163 |
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| 164 | * `persistent` (default: `true`). Indicates whether the process
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| 165 | should continue to run as long as files are being watched. If set to
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| 166 | `false` when using `fsevents` to watch, no more events will be emitted
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| 167 | after `ready`, even if the process continues to run.
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| 168 |
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| 169 | #### Path filtering
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| 170 |
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| 171 | * `ignored` ([anymatch](https://github.com/es128/anymatch)-compatible definition)
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| 172 | Defines files/paths to be ignored. The whole relative or absolute path is
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| 173 | tested, not just filename. If a function with two arguments is provided, it
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| 174 | gets called twice per path - once with a single argument (the path), second
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| 175 | time with two arguments (the path and the
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| 176 | [`fs.Stats`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats)
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| 177 | object of that path).
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| 178 | * `ignoreInitial` (default: `false`). If set to `false` then `add`/`addDir` events are also emitted for matching paths while
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| 179 | instantiating the watching as chokidar discovers these file paths (before the `ready` event).
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| 180 | * `followSymlinks` (default: `true`). When `false`, only the
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| 181 | symlinks themselves will be watched for changes instead of following
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| 182 | the link references and bubbling events through the link's path.
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| 183 | * `cwd` (no default). The base directory from which watch `paths` are to be
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| 184 | derived. Paths emitted with events will be relative to this.
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| 185 | * `disableGlobbing` (default: `false`). If set to `true` then the strings passed to `.watch()` and `.add()` are treated as
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| 186 | literal path names, even if they look like globs.
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| 187 |
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| 188 | #### Performance
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| 189 |
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| 190 | * `usePolling` (default: `false`).
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| 191 | Whether to use fs.watchFile (backed by polling), or fs.watch. If polling
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| 192 | leads to high CPU utilization, consider setting this to `false`. It is
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| 193 | typically necessary to **set this to `true` to successfully watch files over
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| 194 | a network**, and it may be necessary to successfully watch files in other
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| 195 | non-standard situations. Setting to `true` explicitly on MacOS overrides the
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| 196 | `useFsEvents` default. You may also set the CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING env variable
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| 197 | to true (1) or false (0) in order to override this option.
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| 198 | * _Polling-specific settings_ (effective when `usePolling: true`)
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| 199 | * `interval` (default: `100`). Interval of file system polling, in milliseconds. You may also
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| 200 | set the CHOKIDAR_INTERVAL env variable to override this option.
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| 201 | * `binaryInterval` (default: `300`). Interval of file system
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| 202 | polling for binary files.
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| 203 | ([see list of binary extensions](https://github.com/sindresorhus/binary-extensions/blob/master/binary-extensions.json))
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| 204 | * `useFsEvents` (default: `true` on MacOS). Whether to use the
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| 205 | `fsevents` watching interface if available. When set to `true` explicitly
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| 206 | and `fsevents` is available this supercedes the `usePolling` setting. When
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| 207 | set to `false` on MacOS, `usePolling: true` becomes the default.
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| 208 | * `alwaysStat` (default: `false`). If relying upon the
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| 209 | [`fs.Stats`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats)
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| 210 | object that may get passed with `add`, `addDir`, and `change` events, set
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| 211 | this to `true` to ensure it is provided even in cases where it wasn't
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| 212 | already available from the underlying watch events.
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| 213 | * `depth` (default: `undefined`). If set, limits how many levels of
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| 214 | subdirectories will be traversed.
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| 215 | * `awaitWriteFinish` (default: `false`).
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| 216 | By default, the `add` event will fire when a file first appears on disk, before
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| 217 | the entire file has been written. Furthermore, in some cases some `change`
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| 218 | events will be emitted while the file is being written. In some cases,
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| 219 | especially when watching for large files there will be a need to wait for the
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| 220 | write operation to finish before responding to a file creation or modification.
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| 221 | Setting `awaitWriteFinish` to `true` (or a truthy value) will poll file size,
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| 222 | holding its `add` and `change` events until the size does not change for a
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| 223 | configurable amount of time. The appropriate duration setting is heavily
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| 224 | dependent on the OS and hardware. For accurate detection this parameter should
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| 225 | be relatively high, making file watching much less responsive.
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| 226 | Use with caution.
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| 227 | * *`options.awaitWriteFinish` can be set to an object in order to adjust
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| 228 | timing params:*
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| 229 | * `awaitWriteFinish.stabilityThreshold` (default: 2000). Amount of time in
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| 230 | milliseconds for a file size to remain constant before emitting its event.
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| 231 | * `awaitWriteFinish.pollInterval` (default: 100). File size polling interval, in milliseconds.
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| 232 |
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| 233 | #### Errors
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| 234 |
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| 235 | * `ignorePermissionErrors` (default: `false`). Indicates whether to watch files
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| 236 | that don't have read permissions if possible. If watching fails due to `EPERM`
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| 237 | or `EACCES` with this set to `true`, the errors will be suppressed silently.
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| 238 | * `atomic` (default: `true` if `useFsEvents` and `usePolling` are `false`).
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| 239 | Automatically filters out artifacts that occur when using editors that use
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| 240 | "atomic writes" instead of writing directly to the source file. If a file is
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| 241 | re-added within 100 ms of being deleted, Chokidar emits a `change` event
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| 242 | rather than `unlink` then `add`. If the default of 100 ms does not work well
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| 243 | for you, you can override it by setting `atomic` to a custom value, in
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| 244 | milliseconds.
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| 245 |
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| 246 | ### Methods & Events
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| 247 |
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| 248 | `chokidar.watch()` produces an instance of `FSWatcher`. Methods of `FSWatcher`:
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| 249 |
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| 250 | * `.add(path / paths)`: Add files, directories, or glob patterns for tracking.
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| 251 | Takes an array of strings or just one string.
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| 252 | * `.on(event, callback)`: Listen for an FS event.
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| 253 | Available events: `add`, `addDir`, `change`, `unlink`, `unlinkDir`, `ready`,
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| 254 | `raw`, `error`.
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| 255 | Additionally `all` is available which gets emitted with the underlying event
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| 256 | name and path for every event other than `ready`, `raw`, and `error`. `raw` is internal, use it carefully.
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| 257 | * `.unwatch(path / paths)`: Stop watching files, directories, or glob patterns.
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| 258 | Takes an array of strings or just one string.
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| 259 | * `.close()`: **async** Removes all listeners from watched files. Asynchronous, returns Promise. Use with `await` to ensure bugs don't happen.
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| 260 | * `.getWatched()`: Returns an object representing all the paths on the file
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| 261 | system being watched by this `FSWatcher` instance. The object's keys are all the
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| 262 | directories (using absolute paths unless the `cwd` option was used), and the
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| 263 | values are arrays of the names of the items contained in each directory.
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| 264 |
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| 265 | ## CLI
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| 266 |
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| 267 | If you need a CLI interface for your file watching, check out
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| 268 | [chokidar-cli](https://github.com/kimmobrunfeldt/chokidar-cli), allowing you to
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| 269 | execute a command on each change, or get a stdio stream of change events.
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| 270 |
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| 271 | ## Install Troubleshooting
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| 272 |
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| 273 | * `npm WARN optional dep failed, continuing fsevents@n.n.n`
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| 274 | * This message is normal part of how `npm` handles optional dependencies and is
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| 275 | not indicative of a problem. Even if accompanied by other related error messages,
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| 276 | Chokidar should function properly.
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| 277 |
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| 278 | * `TypeError: fsevents is not a constructor`
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| 279 | * Update chokidar by doing `rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json yarn.lock && npm install`, or update your dependency that uses chokidar.
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| 280 |
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| 281 | * Chokidar is producing `ENOSP` error on Linux, like this:
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| 282 | * `bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Inappropriate ioctl for device bash: no job control in this shell`
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| 283 | `Error: watch /home/ ENOSPC`
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| 284 | * This means Chokidar ran out of file handles and you'll need to increase their count by executing the following command in Terminal:
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| 285 | `echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p`
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| 286 |
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| 287 | ## Changelog
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| 288 |
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| 289 | For more detailed changelog, see [`full_changelog.md`](.github/full_changelog.md).
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| 290 | - **v3.5 (Jan 6, 2021):** Support for ARM Macs with Apple Silicon. Fixes for deleted symlinks.
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| 291 | - **v3.4 (Apr 26, 2020):** Support for directory-based symlinks. Fixes for macos file replacement.
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| 292 | - **v3.3 (Nov 2, 2019):** `FSWatcher#close()` method became async. That fixes IO race conditions related to close method.
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| 293 | - **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.
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| 294 | - **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%.
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| 295 | - **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.
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| 296 | - **v2 (Dec 29, 2017):** Globs are now posix-style-only; without windows support. Tons of bugfixes.
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| 297 | - **v1 (Apr 7, 2015):** Glob support, symlink support, tons of bugfixes. Node 0.8+ is supported
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| 298 | - **v0.1 (Apr 20, 2012):** Initial release, extracted from [Brunch](https://github.com/brunch/brunch/blob/9847a065aea300da99bd0753f90354cde9de1261/src/helpers.coffee#L66)
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| 299 |
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| 300 | ## Also
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| 301 |
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| 302 | Why was chokidar named this way? What's the meaning behind it?
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| 303 |
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| 304 | >Chowkidar is a transliteration of a Hindi word meaning 'watchman, gatekeeper', चौकीदार. This ultimately comes from Sanskrit _ चतुष्क_ (crossway, quadrangle, consisting-of-four).
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| 305 |
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| 306 | ## License
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| 307 |
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| 308 | MIT (c) Paul Miller (<https://paulmillr.com>), see [LICENSE](LICENSE) file.
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