using watch run 2 commands

Question

I have to do watch two commands in the same terminal windows. I mean something like

watch du -h filename.txt && df -h

But its showing only one output.

So what I am thinking is may be its not possible to use watch to run multiple commands on the same window.

If there is any way , Please let me know.

Thank you.

score 142 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 12 '15 at 12:41

142

You can quote the commands:

watch "du -h filename.txt && df -h"

And they'll be executed together.

answered Mar 12 '15 at 12:41

Oli

299,380

score 35 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 10 '16 at 19:15

If you want to make sure both commands execute, one of the ways is to separate them with ; instead of &&.

watch 'du -h filename.txt; df -h'

&& allows the execution of second command (second operand, to the right of &&) only if the first command executed successfully (exit status 0). If this is intended behaviour, go with &&.

Geofferey · Answer 3 · 2017-10-31T01:03:16.150

8

For completeness sake...

 watch 'du -h filename.txt || true && df -h'

The '|| true' part causes the first command to evaluate as true even if it fails for some reason. This will allow the next command after the && to execute no matter the output of first. This is most likely unnecessary for the scenario, just showing it to be possible.

edited Oct 31 '17 at 01:03

answered Oct 31 '17 at 00:57

Geofferey

181

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 07 '19 at 10:11

For multiple commands to run simultaneously, use single & operator between the commands. Like:

dothis & dothat

To clear any confusion, here's how different operators work:

c1 & c2  # Run both commands parallelly
c1 ; c2  # Run both commands one by one
c1 && c2 # Run c2 only if c1 exits successfully
c1 || c2 # Run c2 only if c1 fails

using watch run 2 commands

4 Answers4