app:watch-files

Watch directories for filesystem changes using inotify. Useful for triggering automated actions when files are added, modified, or removed.

Quick start

Watch a single directory:

make exec cmd="php bin/console app:watch-files --path /data/music"

Watch multiple directories:

make exec cmd="php bin/console app:watch-files --path /data/music --path /data/movies"

Options

Option	Default	Description
`--path`, `-p`	Current directory	Directory to watch. Can be specified multiple times.
`--timeout`, `-t`	`5000`	Read timeout in milliseconds. Controls how often the watcher checks for events.

Details

The command runs continuously until interrupted (Ctrl+C). It prints filesystem events to stdout:

[CREATE] /data/music/New Album/song.mp3
[MODIFY] /data/music/New Album/cover.jpg
[CLOSE_WRITE] /data/music/New Album/song.mp3
[DELETE] /data/music/Old Album/track.mp3

Event types you'll see:

Type	Meaning
`CREATE`	File or directory was created
`DELETE`	File or directory was deleted
`MODIFY`	File content was modified
`MOVE`	File or directory was moved
`CLOSE_WRITE`	File was opened for writing and then closed (common after file copy/download)

Directory events are marked with [DIR].

If no paths are specified, the command watches the current working directory and prints a notice.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Watcher stopped normally (interrupted by user)

Tips

Use a longer timeout (--timeout 10000) on busy filesystems to reduce CPU usage.
This command is designed for development and debugging. For production file watching, the Swoole-based file watcher runs automatically.
Pipe the output to a log file if you want to keep a record of filesystem activity.