php execute crontab script every 1 minute

Question

as part of a php-slim web application, in my init.php file I require a Crontab.php which contains the following code:

<?php

// clears any existing crontab jobs first
exec("crontab -r");

$ctCommand = '"*/1 * * * * php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php"';
exec("(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo " . $ctCommand . " ) | crontab -");

exec("crontab -l");
?>

When I run the commands manually, the job gets added and I can see it being recorded, however it doesn't seem to run. However, when I run php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php it works fine. Any ideas where to troubleshoot this?

I'm looking into the error logs, and every minute I get the following log:

crontab: no crontab for daemon

it'll be hosted on a linux apache webserver. but right now the crontab doesn't run even for my current user (using OSX) — ugotchi
– ugotchi, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 14:55
Please, try crontab -e to verify if the command is there and add it if not. — JrBenito
– JrBenito, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 14:56
Try adding a new line after the command. Cron might not see the command. Having */1 is redundant. * means every minute. — Jason K
– Jason K, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:04
Originally I was running every 5 minutes, but 1 minute is to test. I'm basically using the following one-liner stackoverflow.com/a/9625233/5743740 so I'm not sure what a new line will accomplish — ugotchi
– ugotchi, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:11

JrBenito · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-18 14:55:53Z

2

You can use crontab -e to edit the crontab, this will open your default editor (generally vi if other is not set).

Edit the crontab for the user you need this script to run, and add a line as:

*/1 * * * * php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php

This means

Every one minute

Note: The PHP snippet you provide is trying to edit the crontab and add the above line. However it might be failing due lack of permission.

answered Jul 18, 2016 at 14:55

JrBenito

1,02311 silver badges33 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

ugotchi Over a year ago

when I run (crontab -u daemon -l 2>/dev/null; echo "*/1 * * * * php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php") | crontab - manually, I can see it when I type crontab -l so it's in there. it just doesn't run for some reason. I'm using the same account to run the ProcessCycleTimeData.php from the command line, and it runs without having to sudo

JrBenito Over a year ago

@ggwc So, as suggested by @Jason K, try to remove */1 leaving only *.

ugotchi · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-19 07:48:01Z

2

I managed to get it working. My solution was to check if the crontab was actually running by appending the crontab job with >>/tmp/auto-update.log 2>&1 which allowed me to further investigate the issue.

I found that the crontab was indeed running, but as a different user (hence why when I was manually calling crontab -e I could not see the job since I am calling it as my own username.

The crontab was also actually invoking my PHP script, where I could then find out the errors in the auto-update.log, which happened to be due to incorrectly stating the require paths.

answered Jul 19, 2016 at 7:48

ugotchi

1,0131 gold badge16 silver badges34 bronze badges

1 Comment

JrBenito Over a year ago

congratulations, nice approach. Thanks for sharing.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

php execute crontab script every 1 minute

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related