Contents[Hide]

1. Name

watch [man page] - execute a program periodically, showing output fullscreen

2. Synopsis

watch [-dhvt] [-n seconds] [--differences[=cumulative]]
      [--help] [--interval=seconds] [--no-title]
      [--version] command 

3. Frequently used options

-n seconds interval in seconds 

4. Examples

Watch is utility which helps you to WATCH for changes. For example if we want to watch content of directory for new files we can do:

$ watch ls ~/ 

By default watch update screen every 2 seconds. To change this interval we can use -n option. If we want to watch to refresh screen every 0.5 second we do:

watch -n 0.5 ls ~/ 

watch for directory or file change

Free Linux eBooks

Linux Technical Writer

LinuxCareer, Casual, Volunteer, Home Based

Do you wish to join Linuxcareer.com project and find out how to be a technical writer? We are now looking for volunteers to help us write tutorials and share them with Linux community

  • Casual work from home
  • 10 articles / year

Any active Linuxcareer.com’s author will be entitled to following benefits:

  • actively participate in Linuxcareer.com’s decision making process
  • feedback and help

APPLY

Do you have the right skills?

Our IT Skills Watch page reflects an up to date IT skills demand leaning towards the Linux and Unix environment. We have considered a number of skills and operating systems.

See the result...

Linux Online Training

Learn to run Linux servers and prepare for LPI certification with Linux Academy. 104 available video lessons with PDF course notes with your own server!

Go to top