Bash script, watch folder, execute command

Question

I am trying to create a bash script with 2 parameters:

• a directory
• a command.

I want to watch the

Answer 1

Here's a template to work with, it'll check every 120 seconds for changes in passed directory and notify on creation of directories,files,or names pipes. If you also want to run commands when something is removed then check my other answer on stackoverflow for additional looping examples.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
Var_dir="${1:-/tmp}"
Var_diff_sleep="${2:-120}"
Var_diff_opts="--suppress-common-lines"
Func_parse_diff(){
    _added="$(grep -E '>' <<<"${@}")"
    if [ "${#_added}" != "0" ]; then
        mapfile -t _added_list <<<"${_added//> /}"
        _let _index=0
        until [ "${#_added_list[@]}" = "${_index}" ]; do
            _path_to_check="${Var_dir}/${_added_list[${_index}]}"
            if [ -f "${_path_to_check}" ]; then
                echo "# File: ${_path_to_check}"
            elif [ -d "${_path_to_check}" ]; then
                echo "# Directory: ${_path_to_check}"
            if [ -p "${_path_to_check}" ]; then
                echo "# Pipe: ${_path_to_check}"
            fi
            let _index++
        done
        unset _index
    fi
}
Func_watch_bulk_dir(){
    _current_listing=""
    while [ -d "${Var_dir}" ]; do
        _new_listing="$(ls "${Var_dir}")"
        _diff_listing="$(diff ${Var_dec_diff_opts} <(${Var_echo} "${_current_listing}") <(${Var_echo} "${_new_listing}"))"
        if [ "${_diff_listing}" != "0" ]; then
            Func_parse_diff "${_diff_listing}"
        fi
        _current_listing="${_new_listing}"
        sleep ${Var_diff_sleep}
    done
}

Hint if you replace the echo lines above with eval for each type of action monitored for you'll be all the closer to automation of actions. And if you wish to see what the above looks like when used within a script then check out the latest script version for the project I've been working on for automation of encryption and decryption via gpg and tar.