How to setup Basic Cron Jobs.

Ok. Many people are yelling that they cannot configure the crons properly.
Here is a short tutorial which will help you set them. I have tried my best to explain the concept but there can be more advanced configurations.

Basically you will want to run a PHP script file in specific intervals. Suppose you want to execute a php file called maintanence.php every one hour. This is what you do :-

[ This tutorial is for noobs, Dont go into detail. Just do as instructed ]

The CRON Command is in the Following Format



The COMMAND, can be broken down in


So the COMPLETE CRON command can be written as



The timing is spedified using * symbols


If you did not understand anything till now.. Good, this means you are a noob.. Read ahead

Since this is a UNIX command, You will have to Mention the PATH of PHP. At Astahost,
( it also same at trap17, if users over there want to use it )

These are the Possible Command line Arguments you can use. This will effect the output. In our case, we will use the -q ( Quiet mode ) argument.


The Path of the PHP file Must be Complete absolute path.
If you have an Account at TRAP, And your USERNAME is "tom", Your path will be
"/home/tom/public_html/"

I assume you are familier with the PUBLIC_HTML directory. That is the Root folder where you store your html files.

So lets say that Tom wants to execute my script "maintenance.php" every hour. And it is stored in "public_html/cron/maintenance.php";

So the Complete CRON command would be,



If tom wants to execute it every minute, he would use.



There are more Complex forms of Assigning the TIMINGS for these scripts. You can go to CPANEL => Cron Jobs => Standard and set exact time when the script will be executed.


Also, this method used php, you can also use Curl .

-OpaQue

Nice tuto, OpaQue.
I would just add a comment. I use the same syntax, but I add an output file, just in case something fails.
So, my crontabe line would be :
0 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php -q /home/tom/public_html/cron/maintenance.php >/tmp/maintenance.txt 2>&1
With this syntax I redirect the standard output (which is something like "starting", then "finished") as well as the standard error (just in case something goes wrong) to /tmp/maintenance.txt and I am able to have a look in this text file for debugging purposes.
Yordan

Great Help mates.....thanks alo
Cron Jobs Tutorial

Lookin for this longtime, it made my mind so clear now easily set cron jobs, thanks alot mate...



-reply by Arlsn

How to automatic delete all records older than 6 months ?
Cron Jobs Tutorial

I have a database with somw tables and some records .
Into I insert name suername and date (of registration) for a user .

How can I with crone jobs automatically delete ALL the records older thatn 6 Months par example ?

I want it in PHP / Mysql ..Can anyone help me or give some example ?

I'll apreciate it , thanks in advance ;)

-reply by Jeremy

--- admin reply (trap17.com) ---
>> You have to make a PHP program that connects
>> to Database and Deletes those records.
>> Then you run this program in cron with
>> wget / curl / php command :-)

-shree