# Inotify

&reftitle.intro;

The inotify extension exposes the inotify functions `inotify_init`, `inotify_add_watch` and `inotify_rm_watch`.

As the C `inotify_init` function returns a file descriptor, PHP's `inotify_init` returns a stream resource, usable with standard stream functions, like `stream_select`, `stream_set_blocking` and `fclose`. `inotify_read` replaces the C way of reading inotify events.

&reference.inotify.setup; &reference.inotify.constants; &reference.inotify.reference;