cron job command

[susanth]

I'm not sure about what to put in the command space on a cron job. I want to run a script once a day that's located here:
http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

When I go over to set up the cron job, this is already in the command space: /home/myusername/. Is that suppose to stay there? Do I just append something to the end of that? Would it be something like: /home/myusername/webcards/tools/delay_send.php? :confused:

Thanks,
Susan

[eugene]

Ref: http://hostpc.com/community/showpost.php?p=15312&postcount=7

Use the following command:
/usr/bin/curl -s http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

[susanth]

Thank you. Neither Site-Helper, or the flash demo on Cron Jobs was very clear about what "exactly" goes into the command. One more thing, just to be sure I don't blow up the server. I want the script to run at midnight and noon every day, so I put 0,12 for the Hour and 0 for the Minute, and left everything else *. Does that sound right? Thanks again.

[eugene]

I want the script to run at midnight and noon every day, so I put 0,12 for the Hour and 0 for the Minute, and left everything else *. Does that sound right? Thanks again.
Yes, that sounds correct, however, as many people often schedule jobs to run "on the hour" or especially at midnight, you might consider scheduling your for something like 17 minutes past the hour.

[susanth]

That's a good idea; I'll change the minute setting. It appears the script ran last night and again today without any problem. Appreciate the help.:)

[susanth]

Eugene (or anyone), the command you gave me was working fine until I was moved to a different server this weekend. After the move I got the following error when the cron job tried to run:
/bin/sh: /usr/bin/curl: No such file or directory

I ran a phpinfo();, and saw this: with-curl-dir=/usr/local/lib
I thought that was telling me the path to curl, so I tried changing the command to this:
/usr/local/lib/curl -s http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

Guess what? Got the same error. Anyone know what the command should be? It's PHP Version 5.2.3, if that helps. Thanks.

[eugene]

Eugene (or anyone), the command you gave me was working fine until I was moved to a different server this weekend. After the move I got the following error when the cron job tried to run:
/bin/sh: /usr/bin/curl: No such file or directory

I ran a phpinfo();, and saw this: with-curl-dir=/usr/local/lib
I thought that was telling me the path to curl, so I tried changing the command to this:
/usr/local/lib/curl -s http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php


I just checked. It looks like curl isn't installed on www300. However, wget is installed.
/usr/bin/wget -q -O /dev/null http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

[susanth]

Ok. Thanks a lot. I changed it this morning, and from looking at my logs it looks like it ran today, but does the /dev/null prevent it from writing output anywhere? I used to get an email showing the results using the curl command. Someone needs to create a "Cron Jobs for Dummies" webpage.:p

[eugene]

Ok. Thanks a lot. I changed it this morning, and from looking at my logs it looks like it ran today, but does the /dev/null prevent it from writing output anywhere? I used to get an email showing the results using the curl command. Someone needs to create a "Cron Jobs for Dummies" webpage.:p
Oh, sorry. I mistakenly assumed you wouldn't want a message! Sorry about that. Yes, piping to /dev/null makes the output disappear.

[alange]

Why not just execute the php directly:


/usr/local/bin/php /home/username/domains/mywebsite.com/public_html/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

[eugene]

Why not just execute the php directly:
A lot of scripts are designed to be called by a browser and not executed directly.

[susanth]

Oh, sorry.

No problem. I'm sorry for pestering you, especially since I'm about to pester you some more.
I would like to get an email showing the output, so I removed the /dev/null, leaving this:
/usr/bin/wget -q -O http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

and now I get an email with the following message when it runs:

wget: missing URL
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [url]...
Try `wget --help' for more options.

I've looked at several different sites that offer help with wget, but all I can figure out is that maybe it expects a filename after the -O, or that maybe I should leave the -O off? If I leave the -O off, will I still get an email with the output? Thanks again.

[eugene]

No problem. I'm sorry for pestering you, especially since I'm about to pester you some more.
I would like to get an email showing the output, so I removed the /dev/null, leaving this:
/usr/bin/wget -q -O http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

and now I get an email with the following message when it runs:

wget: missing URL
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [url]...
Try `wget --help' for more options.

I've looked at several different sites that offer help with wget, but all I can figure out is that maybe it expects a filename after the -O, or that maybe I should leave the -O off? If I leave the -O off, will I still get an email with the output? Thanks again.
I don't remember whether cron automatically emails you the output if it isn't null, but I seem to remember that as the default behavior.
That said, either leave out the -O flag or maybe you can put in -O - to have it output to STDOUT. My first move would be to omit the -O.

[skidawg]

As Eugene has said, leave of the -O part. Then when cron runs, it will send an email to the email account associated with your login (I have recently confirmed this within DA). So if you use the name susanth to log into your DA control panel, when cron completes, it will send any output, via email, to susanth@yourdomain.com.

HTH,
Doug

[susanth]

My first move would be to omit the -O.


leave of the -O part. Then when cron runs, it will send an email to the email account associated with your login

I decided to try that yesterday evening. I took out the -O, and from looking at my logs it appears that it ran a little after midnight, but I did NOT receive any email. It seems that it only sends me an email if there is an error.

I'm going to try the -O - next, to have it output to STDOUT, but I'm not sure where the output actually goes with that one. Thanks, both of you.

[susanth]

I changed it to use the -O - (output to STDOUT) yesterday; it ran early this morning and sent me an email with the results. Thanks a lot for your help, Eugene. :)

[MoreFiles]

so what is the best way to get that cron job to run?

I too moved and can't get my old methods of curl to work.

and we do use the usr/bin rather than (not in addition to) home/userid/

correct?

[susanth]

I'm using this as the command:
/usr/bin/wget -q -O - http://www.mywebsite.com/webcards/tools/delay_send.php

It works fine, and sends me an email with the output.

[MoreFiles]

I think both these methods are now working for me

they've also pointed out:

Try this path to curl

/usr/local/bin/curl

[Edi]

/usr/bin/wget

/usr/local/bin/php

/usr/local/bin/curl

What works on www523?

Edi

[mathrules]

I found that this cronjob command works on server www520:


/usr/bin/curl --silent --compressed http://www.yourdomain.com/subfolder/script.php

I found it here http://drupal.org/cron which at some point was posted by Joe. I don't know what the options (--silent and --compressed) do; perhaps someone can explain.

Anyway, it works for me (schedules a php script as a cronjob).