Can't Run a Crontab program? - cron

I'm just trying to run a simple python script once daily in crontab but can't seem to get the syntax right.
48 23 * * * cd ~ /downloads/nextfolder/script.py
That's what I'm currently working with but it could be completely off. What's the right syntax for running a python3 script on a Mac?

Related

How to run a .py file using Crontab in Terminal?

I have a python code which must run every hour.
I set Crontab to be:
0 * * * * python /Users.../file.py
Will it actually run the python code? Or Crontab can only do things like 'echo' etc?
Yes, you can run the python code from Crontab here is an example that I use:
First, to open crontab file:
crontab -e
On the last line of crontab file I write the command:
0 */4 * * * python3 /home/integrations/geckoboard/diario1.0.py
Where integrations is my User, geckoboard my folder and diario1.0.py is the code I want to run
With that my pythonfile will run every 4 hours.

crontab does not execute python script

I am facing an issue of crontab does not run the python script in Raspbian GNU/Linux 9.4 (stretch) installed on a Raspberry Pi3. I have done lots of research on this topic e.g. by following the troubleshooting guide in https://askubuntu.com/questions/23009/why-crontab-scripts-are-not-working/24527#24527 , but none of them solved my issue.
The python script that I want to run is located in
/home/pi/Documents/Fork_BookManager.py
I have made sure that anyone can execute, read and change content to the above file.
I can run this file through terminal by writing
usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/Documents/Fork_BookManager.py
I know the file is running, because the Fork_BookManager.py is using selenium to open a web browser, and I see this web browser being opened. There is no error observed when running the Fork_BookManager.py file from terminal.
In terminal executed
crontab -e
Using nano as editor, I first verified that crontab acutally worked by
* * * * * env > /home/pi/Documents/env.output
After a minute there is a env.output file in Documents folder with below parameters.
LANGUAGE=da_DK.UTF-8
HOME=/home/pi
LOGNAME=pi
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin
LANG=da_DK.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/sh
LC_ALL=da_DK.UTF-8
PWD=/home/pi
I noticed that the path from crontab is different from the path when env is called from terminal as I will have the below path if I call env from terminal
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
So I know that crontab -e was working since I otherwise would not have got the env.output file created in Documents folder. I proceed by calling crontab -e from terminal and copied the path from env into the crontab like below
PATH = /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
* * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/Documents/Fork_BookManager.py
Saved the script and waited. Nothing happend.
To summerize I have:
Made sure that the Fork_BookManager.py is executable
Verified that crontab is working
Updated path from env into the crontab script
which are three largest cause of experiencing difficulties in making crontab to work according to this guide
https://askubuntu.com/questions/23009/why-crontab-scripts-are-not-working/24527#24527
Still it is not working. What have I missed? Is there a better practice to achieve what I want, namely to execute the python script once a minute without doing it directly from the python script itself such as a while loop with a time.sleep(60)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I even tried to expand the path in crontab script by
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/usr/bin:/home/pi/Documents
in an attempt to specify in which folder the python3 and Fork_BookManager.py is located. Still no luck.

Crontab absolute path not working

I have a script to backup my database at /home/<user>/bin/dbbackup. The script is executable by all users, and owned by me. The files /etc/cron.allow and /etc/cron.deny do not exist.
In my crontab I have the following lines (including a new blank line after the last line of code):
#reboot /home/<user>/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
30 2 * * * bash /home/<user>/bin/dbbackup
However, cron is not running my dbbackup script. When I run a manual test of the script it works. When I run this test on the command line: * * * * * /bin/echo "cron works" >> ~/file I get the following error:
No command 'dbbackup' found, did you mean:
Command 'dvbackup' from package 'dvbackup' (universe)
Command 'tdbbackup' from package 'tdb-tools' (main)
dbbackup: command not found
My server is running Ubuntu Trusty. Any help please?
As the comments noted, it appears that amiga_os needed remove the reference to bash in the line.
30 2 * * * bash /home/<user>/bin/dbbackup
Should be.
30 2 * * * /home/<user>/bin/dbbackup
I usually just call scripts from their path and use "#!/bin/bash" (or wherever your bash lives) as the first line of the script. It appears the amiga_os had already done this, which is good. I don't like putting sentences into cron because it makes me nervous.
I think it was a path issue as cron executes as the user but does not read the bash profile and therefore does not work exactly like it would under your shell as it might not have access to your $PATH.

how to use crontab to run a Graphical program such as "gedit"

how to use crontab to run a Graphical program such as "gedit"
57 12 * * * gedit --display=localhost:0
Can not successfully open the program and display it.
--display=localhost:0 can be causing error ,
Following code will also do the trick
57 12 * * * export DISPLAY=:0 && /usr/bin/gedit
There is a reason why i added entire path of gedit ,
Utilities in /bin and /usr/bin can be opened using cron just by specifying its name so
/usr/bin/gedit or just gedit will work.
May a time command you use to start certain utility on terminal doesn't work using cron ,this is because cron passes a minimal set of environment variables to your jobs.May be required env PATH variable is not available with Cron hence it is not able to locate that utility.
you can find a detailed explanation in first reply here.

CRON : Scheduling task

I am using ubuntu 12.04.I am using a script(./home/sam/code/imageUpdate) to synchronising images from server to a particular folder in local system. And I have to run the script in the evening always. So I want to write a crontab which will automatically runs the script.
My commands :
$crontab -e;
And added the scheduled time to the crontab file.
# 50 17 * * * cd /home/sam
# 52 17 * * * ./code/imageUpdate > image1.txt
Then I saved the file and waited for the result.
But I didn't get any result. No image was been synchronised to image1.txt file.
Have I left any step ?
Please help me out...
Thanks in advance.
Make sure you don't have hashes (comments) at the start of your crontab commands.
Additionally:
Crontab commands should be run in isolation.
Each crontab command will be run in its own context, changing directory in one instruction probably won't lead to that directory being sound for the next executed (they may be run in their own environments, e.g.).
To overcome this, write a simple shell script which encompasses all of your commands for a single action.
# MyCommand.sh
cd /home/sam
./code/imageUpdate > image1.txt
# crontab command
50 17 * * * /home/sam/MyCommand.sh

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