Cronjob for a script - Printable Version

Cronjob for a script - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Cronjob for a script (/showthread.php?tid=5600)

Cronjob for a script - Moltke - 09-18-2018

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a nice life! Smile

I wrote a very simple script to copy files from one dir into another one, I want to create a cronjob so it runs once a week - on Sundays - but I'm not sure whether if it's correct or not. Can you take a look and tell me so?
this is the cronjob:

0 1 * 1-12 SUN /home/myusername/dir/cp.sh
or

0 1 * 1-12 SUN /bin/bash /home/myusername/dir/cp.sh

I've read quite a few posts all over the web but I'm still confused. Thanks in advance for your answers.

Re: Cronjob for a script - bitsnpcs - 09-18-2018

Hello Moltke,

I haven't done this before, so it is just results from searches, I hope they help a bit though in finding the solution -

https://crontab.guru/

I used to make the below -

Code:
0 1 * 1-12 0

It will do the task at 01:00 hours on Sunday in every months from January to December.
It says for Sundays if you wish you can use instead of , 0, sun.
I am unsure if whether if a users week setting begins on Sunday or Monday may alter the numerical codes or if the crontab.guru bases this on using a geolocation script of the visitor, so I can see where using the day name in the week may be of use if it turns out to be presenting a difficulty.

Now the time is done it needs the command -

Code:
cp /origin /destination

example

Code:
0 1 * 1-12 0 cp /path/to/directory /path/to/destination

I also found this link about using rsync for this type of task, I have not used or learnt about rsync yet so its just search result info. (I changed it to add the cron info from the beginning of the post)

https://serverfault.com/questions/259938/cron-job-to-copy-file-from-one-location-to-another-for-new-files-daily/259949

Code:
0 1 * 1-12 0 /usr/bin/rsync -a /origin /destination

Re: Cronjob for a script - Moltke - 09-18-2018

thank you [member=411]bitsnpcs[/member] Smile

I also used that site https://crontab.guru/ when creating this cronjob. Your info is ok but in my case the script is in the source directory, so according to what I read and what they told me in another forum the cronjob should look like:

0 1 * * SUN /home/moltke/dir/cp.sh #the * * are wildcards so meaning the job will run every week and every month.

Since the script contains the command which is

Code:
$ cp -r -n /path/to/cp into

there's no need to add the command. Regarding rsync I think cp is good enough to do te job. BTW, you're right; instead of SUN one could use 0 or 7. There are another ways to do this it seems according to what I read, like using @weekly instead of the whole "0 1 * * SUN/0/7" but I need to read more about it before using it. For now this is supposed to work. Smile

I guess I'll find out on Monday : Smile

Re: Cronjob for a script - bitsnpcs - 09-18-2018

Glad you have solved it Smile

Re: Cronjob for a script - Moltke - 09-18-2018

Quote:Glad you have solved it

thank you

BTW, it seems that the cron tool's smart enough so it'll tell you about any syntax error. So I wouldn't have been able to save it unless properly typed/written.

Re: Cronjob for a script - bitsnpcs - 09-19-2018

(09-18-2018, 11:57 PM)Moltke link Wrote:
Quote:Glad you have solved it
thank you

BTW, it seems that the cron tool's smart enough so it'll tell you about any syntax error. So I wouldn't have been able to save it unless properly typed/written.

That's very useful functionality Smile