Using Inotify

When you need to watch file system events efficiently.

aptitude install inotify-tools

Wait for delete

This waits for a file to be deleted and then echo’s:

#!/bin/bash
inotifywait -e delete_self ./hi/yes  && echo "gone"

Waiting for a create

This watches for files created in a directory and then echo’s. This is more appropriately done with the -m option in real life.

#!/bin/bash
while true; do

inotifywait -e create ./hi  && echo "yo"
done

Watching for changes in /home

#!/bin/bash
while true; do
    touch /var/log/changes
    inotifywait -r -e create "/home" |
    while read filename eventlist eventfile
    do
        echo "see new $eventfile"
        echo "creation $eventfile" >> /var/log/changes
    done
done