Executing a PHP Script with a Cron Job

Execute PHP script in cron job

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:

Shift+:

And then type q!

How to run a PHP script using a Cron job

try

0/2 * * * * curl http://[your_id:port]/kyrill/filetest.php

how to run php file using cron jobs

Cron runs commands as they would be ran via the shell, so running PHP would use local paths.

You need to use a command like:

php /home/USER/public_html/cron.php

Or if including the query string is necessary, use cURL instead (if it's installed):

curl http://www.wetube.org/cron.php?id=01001

You might want to look at not exposing your cron scripts to the internet - move them to outside your web directory because if someone finds it they can constantly reload it to spam your cron scripts (i.e. sending lots of emails)

Setting up a Cron Job on CPanel to executes a PHP script

Since your script resides in your public_html directory you can use wget for your Cron Job

wget -O - -q https://yoursite.com/wallboard/update.php

-O - output is written to the standard output in this case it will go to the email address you specify in CPanel

-q quiet mode

Executing php with crontab

Start by typing at a command line:

whereis php

Do this as the user that the cron job will be run under. This will show you the path to your executable. You can then use that path (if it's not already in your PATH variable) in your cron entry:

5 * * * * /your/path/to/php /var/www/some/path/script.php

Edit: you may need to install the php5-cli (Ubuntu package name) package if all you have is the Apache PHP module installed. This will give you the binary executable that you can run from a command line.