gistfile1.sh

Choonkeat-Home:trynodejs(master) choonkeat$ cat watch.js 
sys = require("sys");
process.watchFile("watched_dir", function () {
  sys.puts("\n[watched_dir changed]")
});
process.watchFile("watched_dir/watched_file.txt", function () {
  sys.puts("\n[watched_file.txt changed]")
});
Choonkeat-Home:trynodejs(master) choonkeat$ node watch.js &
[1] 79417
Choonkeat-Home:trynodejs(master) choonkeat$ touch watched_dir/watched_file.txt 
Choonkeat-Home:trynodejs(master) choonkeat$ 
[watched_file.txt changed]

[watched_dir changed]

Choonkeat-Home:trynodejs(master) choonkeat$ cd watched_dir/
Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ ls
watched_file.txt
Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ 
[watched_dir changed]

Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ touch foo.txt
Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ 
[watched_dir changed]

Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ ls
foo.txt          watched_file.txt
Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ 
[watched_dir changed]

Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ sleep 30 # nothing happens if nobody looks
Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ ls
foo.txt          watched_file.txt
Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ 
[watched_dir changed]

Choonkeat-Home:watched_dir(master) choonkeat$ cd ..
Choonkeat-Home:trynodejs(master) choonkeat$