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Docs: Improve gulp.watch API with Chokidar specifics
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es128 authored and phated committed Dec 31, 2017
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44 changes: 38 additions & 6 deletions docs/API.md
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Expand Up @@ -493,6 +493,9 @@ A task name, a function or an array of either.
### gulp.watch(glob[, opts], fn)

Watch files and do something when a file changes.
File watching is provided by the [`chokidar`][chokidar] module.
Please report any file watching problems directly to its
[issue tracker](https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar/issues).

```js
gulp.watch('js/**/*.js', gulp.parallel('uglify', 'reload'));
Expand All @@ -509,7 +512,23 @@ A single glob or array of globs that indicate which files to watch for changes.
#### opts
Type: `Object`

Options, that are passed to [`chokidar`][chokidar].
Options that are passed to [`chokidar`][chokidar].

Commonly used options:
* `ignored` ([anymatch](https://github.com/es128/anymatch)-compatible definition)
Defines files/paths to be excluded from being watched.
* `usePolling` (boolean, default: `false`). When `true` uses a watch method backed
by stat polling. Usually necessary when watching files on a network mount or on a
VMs file system.
* `cwd` (path string). The base directory from which watch paths are to be
derived. Paths emitted with events will be relative to this.
* `alwaysStat` (boolean, default: `false`). If relying upon the
[`fs.Stats`](http:https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats) object
that may get passed as a second argument with `add`, `addDir`, and `change` events
when available, set this to `true` to ensure it is provided with every event. May
have a slight performance penalty.

Read about the full set of options in [`chokidar`'s README][chokidar]

#### fn
Type: `Function`
Expand All @@ -518,15 +537,13 @@ An [async](#async-support) function to run when a file changes.

`gulp.watch` returns a wrapped [chokidar] FSWatcher object. If provided,
the callback will be triggered upon any `add`, `change`, or `unlink` event.
Listeners can also be set directly for any of [chokidar]'s events.
Listeners can also be set directly for any of [chokidar]'s events, such as
`addDir`, `unlinkDir`, and `error`.

```js
var watcher = gulp.watch('js/**/*.js', gulp.parallel('uglify', 'reload'));
watcher.on('change', function(path, stats) {
console.log('File ' + path + ' was changed');
if (stats) {
console.log('changed size to ' + stats.size);
}
});

watcher.on('unlink', function(path) {
Expand All @@ -544,7 +561,22 @@ Type: Object

[File stats](http:https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_class_fs_stats) object when available.
Setting the `alwaysStat` option to true will ensure that a file stat object will be
available.
provided.

#### watcher methods

##### watcher.close()

Shuts down the file watcher.

##### watcher.add(glob)

Watch additional glob (or array of globs) with an already-running watcher instance.

##### watcher.unwatch(glob)

Stop watching a glob (or array of globs) while leaving the watcher running and
emitting events for the remaining paths it is watching.

### gulp.tree(options)

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