tldr/pages/linux/inotifywait.md

inotifywait

Waits for changes to files. More information: https://manned.org/inotifywait.

• Watch a specific file for events, exiting after the first one:

inotifywait {{path/to/file}}

• Continuously watch a specific file for events without exiting:

inotifywait --monitor {{path/to/file}}

• Watch a directory recursively for events:

inotifywait --monitor --recursive {{path/to/directory}}

• Watch a directory for changes, excluding files, whose names match a regular expression:

inotifywait --monitor --recursive --exclude "{{regular_expression}}" {{path/to/directory}}

• Watch a file for changes, exiting when no event occurs for 30 seconds:

inotifywait --monitor --timeout {{30}} {{path/to/file}}

• Only watch a file for file modification events:

inotifywait --event {{modify}} {{path/to/file}}

• Watch a file printing only events, and no status messages:

inotifywait --quiet {{path/to/file}}

• Run a command when a file is accessed:

inotifywait --event {{access}} {{path/to/file}} && {{command}}