#!/bin/sh
## Loop examining file until it stops changing (better than `watch ls -l FILE')
## Usage:  ls_looped [-TIME] FILE
##   TIME is the wait time (default: 10s) between checks (see `sleep --help')
## Example:  ls_looped -5m foobar
## ls_looped v 0.2, (c) 2005-8 Adam Katz <scriptsATkhopiscom>, license: GPL v2+

if [ $# = 0 ] || [ "$1" != "${1#-[-hHVv]}" ]; then
  sed -e '/^## /!d' -e 's///' "`which $0 2>/dev/null || echo $0`" # --help
  exit 0
fi

[ "$1" != "${1#-}" ] && [ -n "$2" ] && time="${1##[-a-z]}" && shift

while [ -n "$1" ]; do
  listing=`ls -lphd ${LS_COLORS:+--color=always} "$1"`
  printf "\r$(echo $listing)"

  # sleep for specified time; if it failed, reset time to 10s and use that
  if sleep $time 2>/dev/null; then true; else time=10; sleep $time; fi

  listing=`ls -l --full-time "$1" 2>/dev/null || ls -l "$1"` # ns (w/ failover)
  old2="$old1" # (keep track of extra instance in case full-time doesn't work)
  old1="$listing"
  [ "$listing" = "$old2" ] && break # assume we're done after 3 of the same
done
echo "" # the \n to end the last line