# Monitoring folder for changes

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/monitoring-folder-for-changes/164110>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 28, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/monitoring-folder-for-changes/164110 "2009-03-28T00:43:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fcruxen)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/monitoring-folder-for-changes/164110/1 "2009-03-28T00:43:12Z")

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Is there any gem or code example that would help me to watch a given  
folder for changes and trigger a callback upon change detection?

Thanks!

– Felipe

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**Author:** ![fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fcruxen)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/monitoring-folder-for-changes/164110/2 "2009-03-28T00:50:16Z")

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On Mar 27, 2009, at 5:39 PM, Felipe C. wrote:

> Is there any gem or code example that would help me to watch a given  
> folder for changes and trigger a callback upon change detection?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> ## – Felipe
> 
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).

sudo gem install directory\_watcher

a @ [http://codeforpeople.com/](http://codeforpeople.com/)

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**Author:** ![fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fcruxen)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/monitoring-folder-for-changes/164110/3 "2009-03-28T00:56:16Z")

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Ara Howard wrote:

> sudo gem install directory\_watcher  
> a @ [http://codeforpeople.com/](http://codeforpeople.com/)

Now that was fast! Thanks Ara!

Best regards,

– Felipe

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**Author:** ![fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@fcruxen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/fcruxen)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/monitoring-folder-for-changes/164110/4 "2009-03-28T14:26:51Z")

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Felipe C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes:

> Ara Howard wrote:
> 
> > sudo gem install directory\_watcher  
> > a @ [http://codeforpeople.com/](http://codeforpeople.com/)
> 
> Now that was fast! Thanks Ara!

If speed is more important than portability, you may want to consider  
utilizing operating specific features. I believe Linux, OSX & Windows  
all provide notifications of changes to the file system so you wouldn’t  
have to periodically poll.