Under Unix, this is commonly accomplished
using the standard Unix program cron
.
Cron can be used to schedule "jobs" to be run at
particular times without human intervention.
New cron jobs are installed using the crontab
command. To edit your crontab file, enter the
following command:
crontab -e
This command typically launches the vi
editor.
You can, alternatively, create a text file using the
editor of your choice and submit it to cron with
the following command:
crontab filename
A typical crontab entry (line of the crontab file) to run wusage resembles the following entry:
0 1 * * 0 /full/path/to/wusage -c /full/path/to/configuration/fileThe five digits (or asterisks) correspond to minutes, hours, days of the month, months, and weekdays, respectively. If a particular digit is not important to schedule the job, an asterisk is given. For instance, we want the job to run every month, not just in specific months, so an asterisk is specified for the fourth digit. Sunday is day zero (or seven). For more information, use the Unix commands
man crontab
and man 5 crontab
.
"What about non-Unix platforms?"
Windows NT supports the AT
command, which
can also be used to schedule programs to run at particular
times. Scheduling of this sort is not a standard feature
of non-server operating systems such as MSDOS and
Windows 95.
Note: Boutell.Com does not provide basic assistance
with your operating system's commands. Please consult
the online help of your operating system if you have questions
about the basic operation of cron
, AT
,
or the scheduling service of your particular operating system.
This document is intended to provide an overview of the
services that may be available to you as part of your
operating system.
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