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I have a folder in my live directory (/var/www), called cron. How do I configure the server to find this directory, in order to execute the files using a cron.

I need to run certain scripts at different intervals. e.g. 2-3 Files everyday, and 1-2 files every Wednesday.

What would I need to put in the crontab in order do the above? I've attempted to add * * * * * /var/www/email.php as a text, which should send me an email every minutes, but nothing comes through.

Am I doing something wrong?

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Have you tried to see /var/log/syslog to check for error messages ? Do you have access to the server as root ? Maybe the cron service is not running... – Feiticeir0 Aug 7 '11 at 15:46
It says it failed with exit status 2? – user826855 Aug 7 '11 at 16:14
exit status 2 usually is ENOENT i.e. 'no such file or directory'. Cron probably wasn't able to read its file. – bitwelder Aug 7 '11 at 19:02
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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

try it this way:

* * * * * php -q /var/www/email.php

also make sure the file is executable as the user you run the cronjob as

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Do I put that code in the crontab file? How do I check the file is executable as the user I am running the cronjob as? – user826855 Aug 7 '11 at 16:16
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@user826855: If you have to ask something as basic as that then you shouldn't be doing any of this. – Iain♦ Aug 7 '11 at 16:20
edited code to show it as an example cron line based on your info provided, but plus 1 on Iain, be very careful if you dont know what your doing – anthonysomerset Aug 7 '11 at 16:21
@Iain Everybody has to start somewhere, plus I'm on a testing server, so it mistakes don't really matter. – user826855 Aug 7 '11 at 20:22
@user826855: faq – Iain♦ Aug 7 '11 at 20:37
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up vote 0 down vote

I don't think you can change the location of a users crontab file. They are usually located /var/spool/cron/crontabs/<username> Why do you want to place a crontab in /var/www/cron ?

Does email.php contain a shebang line at the top #!/usr/bin/php (or similar) if is doesn't then you should add one.

If email.php does have a shebang ensure that it is executable by the user who is running it.

Is cron running ?

ps -ef | grep cron | grep -v grep
root      4148     1  0 Aug04 ?        00:00:00 crond

if not start it.

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I don't want to place a crontab in "/var/www" I just want to execute some files as a cron that are located in "/var/www". What does "#!/usr/bin/php" do? – user826855 Aug 7 '11 at 16:36
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