watch is a small command-line utility written in C that periodically runs a shell command at a user-defined interval.
It’s aimed at lightweight automation tasks such as rerunning tests, rebuilding assets, and repeatedly checking command output. The project is similar to the traditional watch(1) utility, but it adds millisecond interval support, preserves ANSI escape sequences, and does not clear the terminal unless explicitly asked to do so.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Executes commands repeatedly at configurable intervals, including millisecond values.
- Supports quiet mode to display only stderr output.
- Can halt execution when a command fails.
- Optionally clears the screen between iterations.
Website: github.com/tj/watch
Support:
Developer: TJ
License: MIT License
watch is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| watch alternatives | |
|---|---|
| viddy | Modern watch command. It features in our Top 100 TUI apps |
| hwatch | Results are scrollable and displayed. Also features in our Top 100 TUI apps |
| watchexec | Run a command when files in the current directory change |
| neowatch | Alternative to watch also written in Rust |
| ov | Feature rich terminal pager |
| chokidar | Watch file system changes |
| watcher | Watch files in a directory for changes |
| wfh | Rsync as you edit |
| reflex | Run a command when files change |
| rwatch | Rust implementation of watch |
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