Watch a folder for changes using node.js, and print file paths when they are changed

Question

I'm trying to write a node.js script that watches for changes in a directory of files, and then prints the files that are changed. How can I modify this script so that it watches a directory (instead of an individual file), and prints the names of the files in the directory as they are changed?

var fs = require('fs'),     sys = require('sys'); var file = '/home/anderson/Desktop/fractal.png'; //this watches a file, but I want to watch a directory instead fs.watchFile(file, function(curr, prev) {     alert("File was modified."); //is there some way to print the names of the files in the directory as they are modified? }); 

Answer 1

Try Chokidar:

var chokidar = require('chokidar');  var watcher = chokidar.watch('file or dir', {ignored: /^\./, persistent: true});  watcher   .on('add', function(path) {console.log('File', path, 'has been added');})   .on('change', function(path) {console.log('File', path, 'has been changed');})   .on('unlink', function(path) {console.log('File', path, 'has been removed');})   .on('error', function(error) {console.error('Error happened', error);}) 

Chokidar solves some of the crossplatform issues with watching files using just fs.