Difference between revisions of "Cron Notes"

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#    day of month  1-31
 
#    day of month  1-31
 
#    month          1-12 (or names, see below)
 
#    month          1-12 (or names, see below)
#    day of week    0-7 (0 and 7 are Sunday. Can also use names.)
+
#    day of week    0-7 (0 and 7 are both Sunday).
#                   0 sun, 1 mon, 2 tue, 3 wed, 4 thr, 5 fri, 6 sat, 7 sun
+
#    The following names may also be used:
# A field may be an asterisk (*), which always stands for "first-last".
+
#           0 sun, 1 mon, 2 tue, 3 wed, 4 thr, 5 fri, 6 sat, 7 sun
 +
# A field may be an asterisk (*), which stands for "first-last".
 +
# Ranges are two numbers separated with a hyphen.
 +
# Ranges are inclusive. For example, "8-11" for  "hours" specifies
 +
# hours 8, 9, 10 and 11.
 
#  
 
#  
# Ranges of numbers are allowed. Ranges are two numbers separated with a hyphen.
+
# A list is a set of numbers (or ranges) separated by commas.
# The specified range is inclusive. For example, 8-11 for an "hours" entry
 
# specifies execution at hours 8, 9, 10 and 11.
 
#
 
# Lists are allowed.  A list is a set of numbers (or ranges) separated by commas.
 
 
# Examples: "1,2,5,9", "0-4,8-12".
 
# Examples: "1,2,5,9", "0-4,8-12".
 
#  
 
#  
# Step values can be used in conjunction with ranges. Following a range with
+
# Step values may be added with a "/" at the end of a range (or *) to
# "/<number>" specifies  skips of the number's value through the range.  
+
# specify the number of values to jump to get to the next item.
# For example, "0-23/2" can be used in the hours field to specify command
+
# For example, "0-12/2" can be used in the hours field to specify
# execution every other hour (the alternative in the V7 standard is
+
# every other hour. This is equivalent to  "0,2,4,6,8,10,12".
# "0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22"). Steps are also permitted after an
+
# Note that this includes both Midnight and Noon.
# asterisk, so if you want to say "every two hours", just use "*/2".
+
# If you want to specify "every two hours", use "*/2" (equivalent to
# Note:  The  day of a command's execution can be specified by two fields
+
# "0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22).
# -- day of month, and day of week. If both fields are restricted  
+
# Note:  The  day of a command's execution can be specified by both
# (that is, are not *), the command will be run when either field matches the
+
# day of month and day of week. If both fields are restricted  
# current time.  For example, "30 4 1,15 * 5" would cause a command  
+
# (that is, not *), then either field will cause the command to run.
# to be run at 4:30 am on the 1st and 15th of each month, plus every Friday.
+
# For example, "30 4 1,15 * 5" would cause a command  
 +
# to be run at 4:30 AM on the 1st and 15th of each month,
 +
# plus every Friday.
 
#
 
#
 
# The "sixth" field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be
 
# The "sixth" field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be

Revision as of 14:04, 3 August 2015


See also Bash notes for some techniques to prevent multiple cron job from running at the same time. This happens if a cron job has not finished before cron tries to start it again.

run once (runonce, flock)

Most Linux distros off the flock utility for scripting.

Cron documentation comment

I stick this big comment at the top of the /etc/crontab file so I don't have to keep going back to the man page.

# The time and date fields are:
#     field          allowed values
#     -----          --------------
#     minute         0-59
#     hour           0-23
#     day of month   1-31
#     month          1-12 (or names, see below)
#     day of week    0-7 (0 and 7 are both Sunday).
#     The following names may also be used:
#           0 sun, 1 mon, 2 tue, 3 wed, 4 thr, 5 fri, 6 sat, 7 sun
# A field may be an asterisk (*), which stands for "first-last".
# Ranges are two numbers separated with a hyphen.
# Ranges are inclusive. For example, "8-11" for  "hours" specifies
# hours 8, 9, 10 and 11.
# 
# A list is a set of numbers (or ranges) separated by commas.
# Examples: "1,2,5,9", "0-4,8-12".
# 
# Step values may be added with a "/" at the end of a range (or *) to
# specify the number of values to jump to get to the next item.
# For example, "0-12/2" can be used in the hours field to specify
# every other hour. This is equivalent to  "0,2,4,6,8,10,12".
# Note that this includes both Midnight and Noon. 
# If you want to specify "every two hours", use "*/2" (equivalent to
# "0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22).
# Note:  The  day of a command's execution can be specified by both
# day of month and day of week. If both fields are restricted 
# (that is, not *), then either field will cause the command to run.
# For example, "30 4 1,15 * 5" would cause a command 
# to be run at 4:30 AM on the 1st and 15th of each month,
# plus every Friday.
#
# The "sixth" field (the rest of the line) specifies the command to be
# run. The entire command portion of the line, up to a newline or %
# character, will be executed by /bin/sh or by the shell specified in the
# SHELL variable of the crontab file. Percent-signs (%) in the command,
# unless escaped with backslash (\), will be changed into newline characters, 
# and all data after the first % will be sent to the command as standard input. 
# There is no way to split a single command line onto multiple lines, 
# ala the shell's trailing "\".
#
# Example system /etc/crontab:
#      SHELL=/bin/sh
#      PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
#      MAILTO=""
#      # Run all scripts in /etc/cron.hourly every hour seventeen minutes after the hour.
#      17 * * * *   root    cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
#      # run every day seven minutes after midnight
#      7 0 * * *       root /usr/sbin/ntpdate time.nist.gov >> /var/log/ntpdate.log 2>&1
#      # run every month on the first at 2:15 PM. Ignore all output (errors and stdout).
#      15 14 1 * *     root /bin/foo >/dev/null 2>&1
#      # run weekdays at 11 PM
#      0 23 * * 1-5    root mail -s "It's 11pm" joe@example.com%Joe,%%Where are your kids?%
#      23 0-23/2 * * * root echo "run every day, 23 minutes after midnight, 2am, 4am..."
#      5 4 * * sun     root echo "run every Sunday at 5 minutes after 4"
#      */5 * * * *     root echo "run every 5 minutes"
#      0 */2 * * *    root echo "run every 2 hours on the hour"