I want to run PHP scripts automatically. For that I googled and I came to know about CRON. But I dont know how to install and use it. Im using only PHP, CSS, HTML, and running on XAMP apache server on localhost. How to install. Help Me plz
+3
A:
Do you have a Windows machine or a Linux machine?
Under Windows cron is called 'Scheduled Tasks'. It's located in the Control Panel. You can set several scripts to run at specified times in the control panel. Use the wizard to define the scheduled times. Be sure that PHP is callable in your PATH.
Under Linux you can create a crontab for your current user by typing:
crontab -e [username]
If this command fails, it's likely that cron is not installed. If you use a Debian based system (Debian, Ubuntu), try the following commands first:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cron
If the command runs properly, a text editor will appear. Now you can add command lines to the crontab file. To run something every five minutes:
*/5 * * * * /home/user/test.pl
The syntax is basically this:
.---------------- minute (0 - 59)
| .------------- hour (0 - 23)
| | .---------- day of month (1 - 31)
| | | .------- month (1 - 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr ...
| | | | .---- day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0 or 7) OR sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
| | | | |
* * * * * command to be executed
Read more about it on the following pages: Wikipedia: crontab
TheGrandWazoo
2009-11-26 08:47:48
Cron isn't installed by default on all GNU/Linux systems (as crazy as that may sound). You might add a note about how to install a cron (e.g. cronie, vixie-cron...) and how to get it to run on startup (chkconfig on Redhat systems...).
Conrad Meyer
2009-11-26 08:54:05
Good suggestion. Will edit the post a bit :). Although it's difficult to guess without knowing what Unix ;-)
TheGrandWazoo
2009-11-26 08:55:03
I had one doubt. Installing CRON in my local windows system will reflect on my hosting web server???. Plz answer me
Rajasekar
2009-11-26 09:09:24
What Operating System does your hosting server run on?
TheGrandWazoo
2009-11-26 09:20:13
Windows Operating System
Rajasekar
2009-11-26 09:34:05
Check: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814596
TheGrandWazoo
2009-11-26 12:16:25
So my local system should be ON at the scheduled time and should connected to internet. Is it so????
Rajasekar
2009-11-26 13:01:57
Can u give me your skype or yahoo or gtalk id plz @TheGrandWazoo
Rajasekar
2009-11-26 13:04:34
A:
Cron is so named "deamon" (same as service under Win)
Most likely it is already installed on your system (if it is a Linux/Unix system)
Look there
http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/startupman/linux%5Fsucron.html
or there
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron
for details