# InputChanges

interface InputChanges

Provides access to any input files that need to be processed by an incremental work action.

An incremental work action is one that accepts a single InputChanges parameter. The work action can then query what changed for an input parameter since the last execution to only process the changes. The following example shows a task which reverses the text in each of its input files. It demonstrates how to use InputChanges to only process the changed files.

    abstract class IncrementalReverseTask extends DefaultTask {
        @Incremental
        @InputDirectory
        abstract DirectoryProperty getInputDir()

        @OutputDirectory
        abstract DirectoryProperty getOutputDir()

        @TaskAction
        void execute(InputChanges inputChanges) {
            inputChanges.getFileChanges(inputDir).each { change ->
                if (change.fileType == FileType.DIRECTORY) return

                def targetFile = outputDir.file(change.normalizedPath).get().asFile
                if (change.changeType == ChangeType.REMOVED) {
                    targetFile.delete()
                } else {
                    targetFile.text = change.file.text.reverse()
                }
            }
        }
    }

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In the case where Gradle is unable to determine which input files need to be reprocessed, then all of the input files will be reported as ADDED. When such a full rebuild happens, the output files of the work are removed prior to executing the work action. Cases where this occurs include:

- There is no history available from a previous execution.
- A non-file input parameter has changed since the previous execution.
- One or more output files have changed since the previous execution.

#### Since

5.4

## Functions

getFileChanges
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abstract fun getFileChanges(parameter: FileCollection): Iterable<FileChange>
abstract fun getFileChanges(parameter: Provider<out FileSystemLocation>): Iterable<FileChange>
Changes for a parameter.
isIncremental
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abstract fun isIncremental(): Boolean
Indicates if it was possible for Gradle to determine which input files were out of date compared to a previous execution.