Execute PHP script in cron job
Solution 1
Automated Tasks: Cron
Cron is a time-based scheduling service in Linux / Unix-like computer operating systems. Cron job are used to schedule commands to be executed periodically. You can setup commands or scripts, which will repeatedly run at a set time. Cron is one of the most useful tool in Linux or UNIX like operating systems. The cron service (daemon) runs in the background and constantly checks the /etc/crontab file, /etc/cron./* directories. It also checks the /var/spool/cron/ directory.
Configuring Cron Tasks
In the following example, the crontab command shown below will activate the cron tasks automatically every ten minutes:
*/10 * * * * /usr/bin/php /opt/test.php
In the above sample, the */10 * * * * represents when the task should happen. The first figure represents minutes – in this case, on every "ten" minute. The other figures represent, respectively, hour, day, month and day of the week.
*
is a wildcard, meaning "every time".
Start with finding out your PHP binary by typing in command line:
whereis php
The output should be something like:
php: /usr/bin/php /etc/php.ini /etc/php.d /usr/lib64/php /usr/include/php /usr/share/php /usr/share/man/man1/php.1.gz
Specify correctly the full path in your command.
Type the following command to enter cronjob:
crontab -e
To see what you got in crontab.
EDIT 1:
To exit from vim editor without saving just click:
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Solution 2
I had the same problem... I had to run it as a user.
00 * * * * root /usr/bin/php /var/virtual/hostname.nz/public_html/cronjob.php
Solution 3
You may need to run the cron job as a user with permissions to execute the PHP script. Try executing the cron job as root, using the command runuser
(man runuser
). Or create a system crontable and run the PHP script as an authorized user, as @Philip described.
I provide a detailed answer how to use cron in this stackoverflow post.
How to write a cron that will run a script every day at midnight?
Khalilos
Updated on July 14, 2022Comments
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Khalilos almost 2 years
In our centos6 server. I would like to execute a php script in cron job as apache user but unfortunately it does not work.
here is the edition of crontab (crontab -uapache -e)
24 17 * * * php /opt/test.php
and here is the source code of "test.php" file which works fine with "apache" user as owner.
<?php exec( 'touch /opt/test/test.txt');?>
I try to replace php with full path of php (/usr/local/php/bin/php) but also it doesn't work
Thanks in advance, Please Help me
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Khalilos over 10 yearsThanks for your response, I did that but i would like to execute the script in apache crontab (crontab -uapache -e) which doesn't work yet. in fact the script work fine in crontab root (when I add it in crontab -e)
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Ilia over 10 years@Khalilos It should be
crontab -u apache -e
, is that what you meant? -
Khalilos over 10 yearsyes it is, but it does not work when i add the script in 'crontab -u apache -e'
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user2768 over 8 yearsShould it be
/usr/bin/php -f /opt/test.php
, rather than/usr/bin/php /opt/test.php
? -
Ilia over 8 years@user2768
Both ways (whether using the -f switch or not) execute the file my_script.php. Note that there is no restriction on which files can be executed; in particular, the filename is not required have a .php extension.
php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.usage.php -
Alex Correia over 2 yearsIf you want many PHP files running as a cron job, you can put all of them into a .sh file, such as this myExample.sh: #!bin/bash /usb/bin/php /var/www/html/yourdomain/file1.php /usb/bin/php /var/www/html/yourdomain/file2.php /usb/bin/php /var/www/html/yourdomain/file3.php ...