gaze

A globbing fs.watch wrapper built from the best parts of other fine watch libs.

Compatible with NodeJS v0.8/0.6, Windows, OSX and Linux.

Usage

Install the module with: npm install gaze or place into your package.json and run npm install.

var gaze = require('gaze');

// Watch all .js files/dirs in process.cwd()
gaze('**/*.js', function(err, watcher) {
  // Files have all started watching
  // watcher === this

  // Get all watched files
  console.log(this.watched());

  // On file changed
  this.on('changed', function(filepath) {
    console.log(filepath + ' was changed');
  });

  // On file added
  this.on('added', function(filepath) {
    console.log(filepath + ' was added');
  });

  // On file deleted
  this.on('deleted', function(filepath) {
    console.log(filepath + ' was deleted');
  });

  // On changed/added/deleted
  this.on('all', function(event, filepath) {
    console.log(filepath + ' was ' + event);
  });

  // Get watched files with relative paths
  console.log(this.relative());
});

// Also accepts an array of patterns
gaze(['stylesheets/*.css', 'images/**/*.png'], function() {
  // Add more patterns later to be watched
  this.add(['js/*.js']);
});

Alternate Interface

var Gaze = require('gaze').Gaze;

var gaze = new Gaze('**/*');

// Files have all started watching
gaze.on('ready', function(watcher) { });

// A file has been added/changed/deleted has occurred
gaze.on('all', function(event, filepath) { });

Errors

gaze('**/*', function() {
  this.on('error', function(err) {
    // Handle error here
  });
});

Minimatch / Glob

See isaacs's minimatch for more information on glob patterns.

Documentation

gaze(patterns, [options], callback)

patterns {String|Array} File patterns to be matched
options {Object}
callback {Function}
- err {Error | null}
- watcher {Object} Instance of the Gaze watcher

Class: gaze.Gaze

Create a Gaze object by instanting the gaze.Gaze class.

var Gaze = require('gaze').Gaze;
var gaze = new Gaze(pattern, options, callback);

Properties

options The options object passed in.
- interval {integer} Interval to pass to fs.watchFile
- debounceDelay {integer} Delay for events called in succession for the same file/event

Events

ready(watcher) When files have been globbed and watching has begun.
all(event, filepath) When an added, changed or deleted event occurs.
added(filepath) When a file has been added to a watch directory.
changed(filepath) When a file has been changed.
deleted(filepath) When a file has been deleted.
renamed(newPath, oldPath) When a file has been renamed.
end() When the watcher is closed and watches have been removed.
error(err) When an error occurs.

Methods

emit(event, [...]) Wrapper for the EventEmitter.emit. added|changed|deleted events will also trigger the all event.
close() Unwatch all files and reset the watch instance.
add(patterns, callback) Adds file(s) patterns to be watched.
remove(filepath) removes a file or directory from being watched. Does not recurse directories.
watched() Returns the currently watched files.
relative([dir, unixify]) Returns the currently watched files with relative paths.
- dir {string} Only return relative files for this directory.
- unixify {boolean} Return paths with / instead of \\ if on Windows.

FAQs

Why Another `fs.watch` Wrapper?

I liked parts of other fs.watch wrappers but none had all the features I needed. This lib combines the features I needed from other fine watch libs: Speedy data behavior from paulmillr's chokidar, API interface from mikeal's watch and file globbing using isaacs's glob which is also used by cowboy's Grunt.

How do I fix the error `EMFILE: Too many opened files.`?

This is because of your system's max opened file limit. For OSX the default is very low (256). Increase your limit temporarily with ulimit -n 10480, the number being the new max limit.

Contributing

In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style. Add unit tests for any new or changed functionality. Lint and test your code using grunt.

Release History

0.3.4 - Code clean up. Fix path must be strings errors (@groner). Fix incorrect added events (@groner).
0.3.3 - Fix for multiple patterns with negate.
0.3.2 - Emit end before removeAllListeners.
0.3.1 - Fix added events within subfolder patterns.
0.3.0 - Handle safewrite events, forceWatchMethod option removed, bug fixes and watch optimizations (@rgaskill).
0.2.2 - Fix issue where subsequent add calls dont get watched (@samcday). removeAllListeners on close.
0.2.1 - Fix issue with invalid added events in current working dir.
0.2.0 - Support and mark folders with path.sep. Add forceWatchMethod option. Support renamed events.
0.1.6 - Recognize the cwd option properly
0.1.5 - Catch too many open file errors
0.1.4 - Really fix the race condition with 2 watches
0.1.3 - Fix race condition with 2 watches
0.1.2 - Read triggering changed event fix
0.1.1 - Minor fixes
0.1.0 - Initial release