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Wrapper library for directory and file watching.
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# watchpack
Wrapper library for directory and file watching.
[](https://github.com/webpack/watchpack/actions/workflows/test.yml)
[](https://codecov.io/gh/webpack/watchpack)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/watchpack)
## Concept
watchpack high level API doesn't map directly to watchers. Instead a three level architecture ensures that for each directory only a single watcher exists.
- The high level API requests `DirectoryWatchers` from a `WatcherManager`, which ensures that only a single `DirectoryWatcher` per directory is created.
- A user-faced `Watcher` can be obtained from a `DirectoryWatcher` and provides a filtered view on the `DirectoryWatcher`.
- Reference-counting is used on the `DirectoryWatcher` and `Watcher` to decide when to close them.
- The real watchers are created by the `DirectoryWatcher`.
- Files are never watched directly. This should keep the watcher count low.
- Watching can be started in the past. This way watching can start after file reading.
- Symlinks are not followed, instead the symlink is watched.
## API
```javascript
var Watchpack = require("watchpack");
var wp = new Watchpack({
// options:
aggregateTimeout: 1000,
// fire "aggregated" event when after a change for 1000ms no additional change occurred
// aggregated defaults to undefined, which doesn't fire an "aggregated" event
poll: true,
// poll: true - use polling with the default interval
// poll: 10000 - use polling with an interval of 10s
// poll defaults to undefined, which prefer native watching methods
// Note: enable polling when watching on a network path
// When WATCHPACK_POLLING environment variable is set it will override this option
followSymlinks: true,
// true: follows symlinks and watches symlinks and real files
// (This makes sense when symlinks has not been resolved yet, comes with a performance hit)
// false (default): watches only specified item they may be real files or symlinks
// (This makes sense when symlinks has already been resolved)
ignored: "**/.git"
// ignored: "string" - a glob pattern for files or folders that should not be watched
// ignored: ["string", "string"] - multiple glob patterns that should be ignored
// ignored: /regexp/ - a regular expression for files or folders that should not be watched
// ignored: (entry) => boolean - an arbitrary function which must return truthy to ignore an entry
// For all cases expect the arbitrary function the path will have path separator normalized to '/'.
// All subdirectories are ignored too
});
// Watchpack.prototype.watch({
// files: Iterable,
// directories: Iterable,
// missing: Iterable,
// startTime?: number
// })
wp.watch({
files: listOfFiles,
directories: listOfDirectories,
missing: listOfNotExistingItems,
startTime: Date.now() - 10000
});
// starts watching these files and directories
// calling this again will override the files and directories
// files: can be files or directories, for files: content and existence changes are tracked
// for directories: only existence and timestamp changes are tracked
// directories: only directories, directory content (and content of children, ...) and
// existence changes are tracked.
// assumed to exist, when directory is not found without further information a remove event is emitted
// missing: can be files or directorees,
// only existence changes are tracked
// expected to not exist, no remove event is emitted when not found initially
// files and directories are assumed to exist, when they are not found without further information a remove event is emitted
// missing is assumed to not exist and no remove event is emitted
wp.on("change", function(filePath, mtime, explanation) {
// filePath: the changed file
// mtime: last modified time for the changed file
// explanation: textual information how this change was detected
});
wp.on("remove", function(filePath, explanation) {
// filePath: the removed file or directory
// explanation: textual information how this change was detected
});
wp.on("aggregated", function(changes, removals) {
// changes: a Set of all changed files
// removals: a Set of all removed files
// watchpack gives up ownership on these Sets.
});
// Watchpack.prototype.pause()
wp.pause();
// stops emitting events, but keeps watchers open
// next "watch" call can reuse the watchers
// The watcher will keep aggregating events
// which can be received with getAggregated()
// Watchpack.prototype.close()
wp.close();
// stops emitting events and closes all watchers
// Watchpack.prototype.getAggregated(): { changes: Set, removals: Set }
const { changes, removals } = wp.getAggregated();
// returns the current aggregated info and removes that from the watcher
// The next aggregated event won't include that info and will only emitted
// when futher changes happen
// Can also be used when paused.
// Watchpack.prototype.collectTimeInfoEntries(fileInfoEntries: Map, directoryInfoEntries: Map)
wp.collectTimeInfoEntries(fileInfoEntries, directoryInfoEntries);
// collects time info objects for all known files and directories
// this include info from files not directly watched
// key: absolute path, value: object with { safeTime, timestamp }
// safeTime: a point in time at which it is safe to say all changes happened before that
// timestamp: only for files, the mtime timestamp of the file
// Watchpack.prototype.getTimeInfoEntries()
var fileTimes = wp.getTimeInfoEntries();
// returns a Map with all known time info objects for files and directories
// similar to collectTimeInfoEntries but returns a single map with all entries
// (deprecated)
// Watchpack.prototype.getTimes()
var fileTimes = wp.getTimes();
// returns an object with all known change times for files
// this include timestamps from files not directly watched
// key: absolute path, value: timestamp as number
```