1 | # Chokidar [![Weekly downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/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 | ## Why?
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6 |
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7 | There are many reasons to prefer Chokidar to raw fs.watch / fs.watchFile in 2024:
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8 |
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9 | - Events are properly reported
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10 | - macOS events report filenames
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11 | - events are not reported twice
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12 | - changes are reported as add / change / unlink instead of useless `rename`
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13 | - Atomic writes are supported, using `atomic` option
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14 | - Some file editors use them
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15 | - Chunked writes are supported, using `awaitWriteFinish` option
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16 | - Large files are commonly written in chunks
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17 | - File / dir filtering is supported
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18 | - Symbolic links are supported
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19 | - Recursive watching is always supported, instead of partial when using raw events
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20 | - Includes a way to limit recursion depth
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21 |
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22 | Chokidar relies on the Node.js core `fs` module, but when using
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23 | `fs.watch` and `fs.watchFile` for watching, it normalizes the events it
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24 | receives, often checking for truth by getting file stats and/or dir contents.
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25 | The `fs.watch`-based implementation is the default, which
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26 | avoids polling and keeps CPU usage down. Be advised that chokidar will initiate
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27 | watchers recursively for everything within scope of the paths that have been
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28 | specified, so be judicious about not wasting system resources by watching much
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29 | more than needed. For some cases, `fs.watchFile`, which utilizes polling and uses more resources, is used.
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30 |
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31 | Made for [Brunch](https://brunch.io/) in 2012,
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32 | it is now used in [~30 million repositories](https://www.npmjs.com/browse/depended/chokidar) and
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33 | has proven itself in production environments.
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34 |
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35 | **Sep 2024 update:** v4 is out! It decreases dependency count from 13 to 1, removes
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36 | support for globs, adds support for ESM / Common.js modules, and bumps minimum node.js version from v8 to v14.
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37 | Check out [upgrading](#upgrading).
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38 |
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39 | ## Getting started
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40 |
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41 | Install with npm:
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42 |
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43 | ```sh
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44 | npm install chokidar
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45 | ```
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46 |
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47 | Use it in your code:
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48 |
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49 | ```javascript
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50 | import chokidar from 'chokidar';
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51 |
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52 | // One-liner for current directory
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53 | chokidar.watch('.').on('all', (event, path) => {
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54 | console.log(event, path);
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55 | });
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56 |
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57 |
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58 | // Extended options
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59 | // ----------------
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60 |
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61 | // Initialize watcher.
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62 | const watcher = chokidar.watch('file, dir, or array', {
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63 | ignored: (path, stats) => stats?.isFile() && !path.endsWith('.js'), // only watch js files
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64 | persistent: true
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65 | });
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66 |
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67 | // Something to use when events are received.
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68 | const log = console.log.bind(console);
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69 | // Add event listeners.
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70 | watcher
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71 | .on('add', path => log(`File ${path} has been added`))
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72 | .on('change', path => log(`File ${path} has been changed`))
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73 | .on('unlink', path => log(`File ${path} has been removed`));
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74 |
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75 | // More possible events.
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76 | watcher
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77 | .on('addDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been added`))
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78 | .on('unlinkDir', path => log(`Directory ${path} has been removed`))
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79 | .on('error', error => log(`Watcher error: ${error}`))
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80 | .on('ready', () => log('Initial scan complete. Ready for changes'))
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81 | .on('raw', (event, path, details) => { // internal
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82 | log('Raw event info:', event, path, details);
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83 | });
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84 |
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85 | // 'add', 'addDir' and 'change' events also receive stat() results as second
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86 | // argument when available: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats
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87 | watcher.on('change', (path, stats) => {
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88 | if (stats) console.log(`File ${path} changed size to ${stats.size}`);
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89 | });
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90 |
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91 | // Watch new files.
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92 | watcher.add('new-file');
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93 | watcher.add(['new-file-2', 'new-file-3']);
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94 |
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95 | // Get list of actual paths being watched on the filesystem
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96 | let watchedPaths = watcher.getWatched();
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97 |
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98 | // Un-watch some files.
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99 | await watcher.unwatch('new-file');
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100 |
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101 | // Stop watching. The method is async!
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102 | await watcher.close().then(() => console.log('closed'));
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103 |
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104 | // Full list of options. See below for descriptions.
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105 | // Do not use this example!
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106 | chokidar.watch('file', {
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107 | persistent: true,
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108 |
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109 | // ignore .txt files
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110 | ignored: (file) => file.endsWith('.txt'),
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111 | // watch only .txt files
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112 | // ignored: (file, _stats) => _stats?.isFile() && !file.endsWith('.txt'),
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113 |
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114 | awaitWriteFinish: true, // emit single event when chunked writes are completed
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115 | atomic: true // emit proper events when "atomic writes" (mv _tmp file) are used
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116 |
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117 | // The options also allow specifying custom intervals in ms
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118 | // awaitWriteFinish: {
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119 | // stabilityThreshold: 2000,
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120 | // pollInterval: 100
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121 | // },
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122 | // atomic: 100,
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123 | interval: 100,
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124 | binaryInterval: 300,
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125 |
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126 | cwd: '.',
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127 | depth: 99,
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128 |
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129 | followSymlinks: true,
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130 | ignoreInitial: false,
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131 | ignorePermissionErrors: false,
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132 | usePolling: false,
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133 | alwaysStat: false,
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134 | });
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135 |
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136 | ```
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137 |
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138 | `chokidar.watch(paths, [options])`
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139 |
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140 | * `paths` (string or array of strings). Paths to files, dirs to be watched
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141 | recursively.
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142 | * `options` (object) Options object as defined below:
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143 |
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144 | #### Persistence
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145 |
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146 | * `persistent` (default: `true`). Indicates whether the process
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147 | should continue to run as long as files are being watched.
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148 |
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149 | #### Path filtering
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150 |
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151 | * `ignored` function, regex, or path. Defines files/paths to be ignored.
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152 | The whole relative or absolute path is tested, not just filename. If a function with two arguments
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153 | is provided, it gets called twice per path - once with a single argument (the path), second
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154 | time with two arguments (the path and the
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155 | [`fs.Stats`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats)
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156 | object of that path).
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157 | * `ignoreInitial` (default: `false`). If set to `false` then `add`/`addDir` events are also emitted for matching paths while
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158 | instantiating the watching as chokidar discovers these file paths (before the `ready` event).
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159 | * `followSymlinks` (default: `true`). When `false`, only the
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160 | symlinks themselves will be watched for changes instead of following
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161 | the link references and bubbling events through the link's path.
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162 | * `cwd` (no default). The base directory from which watch `paths` are to be
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163 | derived. Paths emitted with events will be relative to this.
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164 |
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165 | #### Performance
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166 |
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167 | * `usePolling` (default: `false`).
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168 | Whether to use fs.watchFile (backed by polling), or fs.watch. If polling
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169 | leads to high CPU utilization, consider setting this to `false`. It is
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170 | typically necessary to **set this to `true` to successfully watch files over
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171 | a network**, and it may be necessary to successfully watch files in other
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172 | non-standard situations. Setting to `true` explicitly on MacOS overrides the
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173 | `useFsEvents` default. You may also set the CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING env variable
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174 | to true (1) or false (0) in order to override this option.
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175 | * _Polling-specific settings_ (effective when `usePolling: true`)
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176 | * `interval` (default: `100`). Interval of file system polling, in milliseconds. You may also
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177 | set the CHOKIDAR_INTERVAL env variable to override this option.
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178 | * `binaryInterval` (default: `300`). Interval of file system
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179 | polling for binary files.
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180 | ([see list of binary extensions](https://github.com/sindresorhus/binary-extensions/blob/master/binary-extensions.json))
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181 | * `alwaysStat` (default: `false`). If relying upon the
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182 | [`fs.Stats`](https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats)
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183 | object that may get passed with `add`, `addDir`, and `change` events, set
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184 | this to `true` to ensure it is provided even in cases where it wasn't
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185 | already available from the underlying watch events.
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186 | * `depth` (default: `undefined`). If set, limits how many levels of
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187 | subdirectories will be traversed.
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188 | * `awaitWriteFinish` (default: `false`).
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189 | By default, the `add` event will fire when a file first appears on disk, before
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190 | the entire file has been written. Furthermore, in some cases some `change`
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191 | events will be emitted while the file is being written. In some cases,
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192 | especially when watching for large files there will be a need to wait for the
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193 | write operation to finish before responding to a file creation or modification.
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194 | Setting `awaitWriteFinish` to `true` (or a truthy value) will poll file size,
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195 | holding its `add` and `change` events until the size does not change for a
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196 | configurable amount of time. The appropriate duration setting is heavily
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197 | dependent on the OS and hardware. For accurate detection this parameter should
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198 | be relatively high, making file watching much less responsive.
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199 | Use with caution.
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200 | * *`options.awaitWriteFinish` can be set to an object in order to adjust
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201 | timing params:*
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202 | * `awaitWriteFinish.stabilityThreshold` (default: 2000). Amount of time in
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203 | milliseconds for a file size to remain constant before emitting its event.
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204 | * `awaitWriteFinish.pollInterval` (default: 100). File size polling interval, in milliseconds.
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205 |
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206 | #### Errors
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207 |
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208 | * `ignorePermissionErrors` (default: `false`). Indicates whether to watch files
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209 | that don't have read permissions if possible. If watching fails due to `EPERM`
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210 | or `EACCES` with this set to `true`, the errors will be suppressed silently.
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211 | * `atomic` (default: `true` if `useFsEvents` and `usePolling` are `false`).
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212 | Automatically filters out artifacts that occur when using editors that use
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213 | "atomic writes" instead of writing directly to the source file. If a file is
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214 | re-added within 100 ms of being deleted, Chokidar emits a `change` event
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215 | rather than `unlink` then `add`. If the default of 100 ms does not work well
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216 | for you, you can override it by setting `atomic` to a custom value, in
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217 | milliseconds.
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218 |
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219 | ### Methods & Events
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220 |
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221 | `chokidar.watch()` produces an instance of `FSWatcher`. Methods of `FSWatcher`:
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222 |
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223 | * `.add(path / paths)`: Add files, directories for tracking.
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224 | Takes an array of strings or just one string.
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225 | * `.on(event, callback)`: Listen for an FS event.
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226 | Available events: `add`, `addDir`, `change`, `unlink`, `unlinkDir`, `ready`,
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227 | `raw`, `error`.
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228 | Additionally `all` is available which gets emitted with the underlying event
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229 | name and path for every event other than `ready`, `raw`, and `error`. `raw` is internal, use it carefully.
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230 | * `.unwatch(path / paths)`: Stop watching files or directories.
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231 | Takes an array of strings or just one string.
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232 | * `.close()`: **async** Removes all listeners from watched files. Asynchronous, returns Promise. Use with `await` to ensure bugs don't happen.
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233 | * `.getWatched()`: Returns an object representing all the paths on the file
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234 | system being watched by this `FSWatcher` instance. The object's keys are all the
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235 | directories (using absolute paths unless the `cwd` option was used), and the
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236 | values are arrays of the names of the items contained in each directory.
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237 |
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238 | ## CLI
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239 |
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240 | If you need a CLI interface for your file watching, check out
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241 | third party [chokidar-cli](https://github.com/open-cli-tools/chokidar-cli), allowing you to
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242 | execute a command on each change, or get a stdio stream of change events.
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243 |
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244 | ## Troubleshooting
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245 |
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246 | * On Linux, sometimes there's `ENOSP` error:
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247 | * `bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Inappropriate ioctl for device bash: no job control in this shell`
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248 | `Error: watch /home/ ENOSPC`
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249 | * 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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250 | `echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p`
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251 | * If using 3.x, upgrade to latest chokidar to prevent fsevents-related issues:
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252 | * `npm WARN optional dep failed, continuing fsevents@n.n.n`
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253 | * `TypeError: fsevents is not a constructor`
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254 |
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255 | ## Changelog
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256 |
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257 | - **v4 (Sep 2024):** remove glob support and bundled fsevents. Decrease dependency count from 13 to 1. Rewrite in typescript. Bumps minimum node.js requirement to v14+
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258 | - **v3 (Apr 2019):** massive CPU & RAM consumption improvements; reduces deps / package size by a factor of 17x and bumps Node.js requirement to v8.16+.
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259 | - **v2 (Dec 2017):** globs are now posix-style-only. Tons of bugfixes.
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260 | - **v1 (Apr 2015):** glob support, symlink support, tons of bugfixes. Node 0.8+ is supported
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261 | - **v0.1 (Apr 2012):** Initial release, extracted from [Brunch](https://github.com/brunch/brunch/blob/9847a065aea300da99bd0753f90354cde9de1261/src/helpers.coffee#L66)
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262 |
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263 | ### Upgrading
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264 |
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265 | If you've used globs before and want do replicate the functionality with v4:
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266 |
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267 | ```js
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268 | // v3
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269 | chok.watch('**/*.js');
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270 | chok.watch("./directory/**/*");
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271 |
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272 | // v4
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273 | chok.watch('.', {
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274 | ignored: (path, stats) => stats?.isFile() && !path.endsWith('.js'), // only watch js files
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275 | });
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276 | chok.watch('./directory');
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277 |
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278 | // other way
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279 | import { glob } from 'node:fs/promises';
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280 | const watcher = watch(await glob('**/*.js'));
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281 |
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282 | // unwatching
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283 | // v3
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284 | chok.unwatch('**/*.js');
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285 | // v4
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286 | chok.unwatch(await glob('**/*.js'));
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287 | ```
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288 |
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289 | ## Also
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290 |
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291 | Why was chokidar named this way? What's the meaning behind it?
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292 |
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293 | >Chowkidar is a transliteration of a Hindi word meaning 'watchman, gatekeeper', चौकीदार. This ultimately comes from Sanskrit _ चतुष्क_ (crossway, quadrangle, consisting-of-four). This word is also used in other languages like Urdu as (چوکیدار) which is widely used in Pakistan and India.
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294 |
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295 | ## License
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296 |
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297 | MIT (c) Paul Miller (<https://paulmillr.com>), see [LICENSE](LICENSE) file.
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