how to automate running a python script

Question

How can I automate running of 3 python scripts. Suppose, I have 3 scripts say a.py,b.py and c.py.

Here a.py runs a web crawler and saves it as a xml file. Now b.py parses the xml file generated and saves as a pickle file. Now c.py inserts the list from pickle file to database.

Is there a way to automate this?

What operating system are you on? Also, what do you mean by automate? Do you want them to run on a fixed schedule or in response to certain events? — BillRobertson42
– BillRobertson42, Commented Feb 1, 2012 at 5:44
I'm using ubuntu 11.10, by automate i mean to say that I want these 3 scripts to run every 2-3 hours. — Ching Chong
– Ching Chong, Commented Feb 1, 2012 at 5:46

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-20 10:18:23Z

7

Just make a shell script which does

python a.py && python b.py && python c.py

The && in bash is for chaining commands consecutively, e.g. here b.py would only execute if a.py completed successfully (i.e. returned 0).

Save it in a file with no extension (some version of cron won't use .sh files, I found this out the long and frustrating way), then put the location of that shell script in your cron table using crontab -e. There is plenty of information on superuser about how to schedule cron jobs, so I recommend to search there for this information rather than here on SO (which is more about programming).

edited Mar 20, 2017 at 10:18

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 1, 2012 at 5:47

wim

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2 Comments

Ching Chong Over a year ago

*/2 * * * * /home/ching/Desktop/scrapper/scrap im using this to run my scripts in crontab every 2 minutes. But i dont see any xml file generated. Is something wrong in this?

wim Over a year ago

have you chmod +x on the script? you can use run-parts --test to check what cron will run

Noufal Ibrahim · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-01 05:58:58Z

0

Write a wrapper python script that imports a, b and c and runs then in sequence (with error checking, notification and accounting). Then schedule this wrapper using the system cron daemon (if on UNIX).

answered Feb 1, 2012 at 5:58

Noufal Ibrahim

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