crontab cannot find required php file when running a php script

Question

I am trying to get crontab to run a php file, here is the cronjob

10 * * * * /usr/bin/php  /var/www/update/ranks.php >> /var/www/update/log/ranks.txt

But I keep getting an error saying the required file does not exist

PHP Warning:  require_once(../mws_products.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /var/www/update/ranks.php on line 2
PHP Fatal error:  require_once(): Failed opening required '../mws_products.php' (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /var/www/update/ranks.php on line 2

I do not get this problem when I run the file from a browser or when I go into the directory of the file and execute the file e.g. cd /var/www/update/

ranks.php

<?php 
require_once('../mws_products.php');

echo "-------------------------------------------------------------\n";
echo date('d-M-Y H:i:s',time())."\n";
echo "Update Ranks\n";
$products->updateRanks();
$database->addUpdate("ranks", time());
echo "\n\n\n";
?>

folder structure

[folder] update
   |____ [file] ranks.php

[file]   mws_products.php

What could be causing this problem? (note: I have tried restarting apache and the server)

JvdBerg · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-08 16:52:09Z

5

As your are running in a crontab from the root directory ../mws_pruducts.php does not exists, relative to the given root.

There are multiple solutions, this is one of them:

define( 'ROOT', dirname(__FILE__) );  
require_once(ROOT . '/../mws_products.php');

answered Sep 8, 2012 at 16:52

JvdBerg

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2 Comments

mk_89 Over a year ago

Hi, will this solution give me any problems when running the file in a browser?

JvdBerg Over a year ago

Keep in mind that mws_products is outside the root of the browser. Depending on your configuration you may not be able to access the file in the browser.

napolux · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-08 16:51:49Z

1

Try with the absolute path for the file...

require_once('/var/www/mws_products.php');

answered Sep 8, 2012 at 16:51

napolux

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