php man page for inotify_init

INOTIFY_INIT(3) 							 1							   INOTIFY_INIT(3)

inotify_init - Initialize an inotify instance

SYNOPSIS
       resource inotify_init (void  )

DESCRIPTION
	Initialize an inotify instance for use with inotify_add_watch(3)

RETURN VALUES
	A stream resource or FALSE on error.

EXAMPLES
       Example #1

	      Example usage of inotify

	      <?php
	      // Open an inotify instance
	      $fd = inotify_init();

	      // Watch __FILE__ for metadata changes (e.g. mtime)
	      $watch_descriptor = inotify_add_watch($fd, __FILE__, IN_ATTRIB);

	      // generate an event
	      touch(__FILE__);

	      // Read events
	      $events = inotify_read($fd);
	      print_r($events);

	      // The following methods allows to use inotify functions without blocking on inotify_read():

	      // - Using stream_select() on $fd:
	      $read = array($fd);
	      $write = null;
	      $except = null;
	      stream_select($read,$write,$except,0);

	      // - Using stream_set_blocking() on $fd
	      stream_set_blocking($fd, 0);
	      inotify_read($fd); // Does no block, and return false if no events are pending

	      // - Using inotify_queue_len() to check if event queue is not empty
	      $queue_len = inotify_queue_len($fd); // If > 0, inotify_read() will not block

	      // Stop watching __FILE__ for metadata changes
	      inotify_rm_watch($fd, $watch_descriptor);

	      // Close the inotify instance
	      // This may have closed all watches if this was not already done
	      fclose($fd);

	      ?>

	      The above example will output something similar to:

	      array(
		array(
		  'wd' => 1,	 // Equals $watch_descriptor
		  'mask' => 4,	 // IN_ATTRIB bit is set
		  'cookie' => 0, // unique id to connect related events (e.g.
				 // IN_MOVE_FROM and IN_MOVE_TO events)
		  'name' => '',  // the name of a file (e.g. if we monitored changes
				 // in a directory)
		),
	      );

SEE ALSO
       inotify_add_watch(3), inotify_rm_watch(3), inotify_queue_len(3), inotify_read(3), fclose(3).

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