donfanning / entr

A utility for running arbitrary commands when files change

Event Notify Test Runner

A utility for running arbitrary commands when files change. Uses kqueue(2) or inotify(7) to avoid polling. entr was written to make rapid feedback and automated testing natural and completely ordinary.

Source Installation - BSD, Mac OS, and Linux

./configure
make test
make install

To see available build options run ./configure -h

Docker and Windows Subsystem for Linux

Incomplete inotify support on WSL and Docker for Mac can cause entr to respond inconsistently. Since version 4.4, entr includes a workaround: Set the environment variable ENTR_INOTIFY_WORKAROUND.

entr will confirm the workaround is enabled:

entr: broken inotify workaround enabled

Man Page Examples

Rebuild a project if source files change, limiting output to the first 20 lines:

$ find src/ | entr sh -c 'make | head -n 20'

Launch and auto-reload a node.js server:

$ find . -name '*.js' | entr -r node app.js

Clear the screen and run a query after the SQL script is updated:

$ echo my.sql | entr -p psql -f /_

Rebuild project if a source file is modified or added to the src/ directory:

$ while true; do find src -name '*.rb' | entr -d make; done

Self-terminate after a file is updated

$ find . -type f | entr -p 'kill $PPID'

News

A release history as well as features in the upcoming release are covered in the NEWS file.