Setting up Cron Jobs as Root

Question

I can run cron jobs manually like this

root@myhosting [~]# sync ; echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

I can add it in to cPanel like this. This doesnt work because I need root access.

 * */4 * * * sync; echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

So that leaves me to add the job using putty logged in as root. The above code doesn't work in putty. I get command not found

Answer 1

Run crontab -e. That will put you into an editor where you can add the cron line.

If you end up in an editor you don't know how to use, you can change it temporarily with

EDITOR=nano crontab -e

Answer 2

That is because this is not command line syntax. You'll need to get into the crontab editor in order to add your requested line. The most common way to do this is with the following line:

crontab -e

This will open your existing crontab. Add your proper crontab line to it, and then write/save.