I'm trying to setup a cron job with a PHP script I wrote
I'm entering /home/user/public_html/script.php

The cron finds the script and begins to execute it but it doesn't finish sucessfully
Note: the script works perfectly when executed manually

I'm wondering if PHP is not recognized by the cron??

Can anyone interpret the following error (sent to email):


/home/user/public_html/script.php: line 1: ?php
: No such file or directory
/home/user/public_html/script.php: line 2:
: command not found
/home/user/public_html.script.php: line 3:
syntax error near unexpected token `('
/home/user/public_html/script.php: line 3:
`//function Email($email) {
'


Yes, I am commenting out a function within this script (for testing purposes)

Should the script be moved? Anything? Any help would be appreciated!

can you paste exactly what you have in cron? and how are you calling it php -q -f /path/to/filename.php?

Scooter

You can't just put /path/to/filename.php. You have to actually tell cron how to execute the file with php -q -f (IIRC)

EDIT: Wow, didn't even see Scooter's post above mine.
Kevin

there are a couple ways you could do this.

1) Tell cron to do "php file.php <php-options>"

Or...

2) Do a "which php" (from a SSH prompt) and use the output from that and add the following to the top if your .php file, like "#!/path/to/php/bin". Then, tell cron to do "./file.php"


I hope the above information helped some, feel free to post any questions regarding the information above, I will gladly help you.

Tell cron to do "php file.php <php-options>"



You have to actually tell cron how to execute the file with php -q -f (IIRC)



I'm using cPanel as an interface to the cron

The only thing I've entered in cPanel is path/to/file.php - what else should I put in there? where?

You put exactly what we've told you. In the path, put
php -options /path/to/filename.php
Kevin

I think the problem is that I don't know what the "options" consist of/ stanf for... Is there a place to find a list of options?

Additionally, I chmod the file to 777
Is this okay?

It just needs to be 755. At first just try php /path/to/filename. Options aren't always needed.
Kevin

-q is needed, otherwise PHP will spit out the HTML headers too (which are not needed on the cli).

Don't forget to surpress all functions when you are done using an @ character, else if one fails, you'll get a load of errors in your inbox if you specified an email address, as well as in the error log.

-q is needed, otherwise PHP will spit out the HTML headers too (which are not needed on the cli).

I don't have any HTML in the script accept where the script sends an email to system users >>> Should I still add -q??? What is -q? What are these options? Where can I find a list of them?

What is the cli?

Don't forget to surpress all functions when you are done using an @ character, else if one fails, you'll get a load of errors in your inbox if you specified an email address, as well as in the error log.


When I'm done with what? Where should the @ character go?

This script only knows of functions that it actually uses (i.e., I don't include 'functions.php' anywhere... functions are within this script.. I am commenting out one function with "//" before every line for testing purposes..

In cpanel simply add this as a cron job.

"php -q -f /home/file/crontab.php"


Any errors im assuming will be sent to your default address.
Try it.

"php -q -f /home/file/crontab.php"
shall i mention, in case you dont know, that you should change /home/file/ by the doc your file is in :

sorry double posted; quick reply bugged!

Also, I've found when using cPanel its important to use double quotes or single quotes and set the reply (echo) of your PHP script to NULL or something.

I was using a mailing script and it would email me every time the php script parsed because it echo'd a bunch of crap that the debugger thought was an error.

I`ve also found that if the script you are trying to execute with cron is in a password protected directory it will not run.

I guess it may be possible to pass the neccessary username and password in the cron but I have not tried.

Philco

I`ve also found that if the script you are trying to execute with cron is in a password protected directory it will not run.

I guess it may be possible to pass the neccessary username and password in the cron but I have not tried.

Philco

I don't know if its possible to call http:// pages instead of ones in your directory, but you could try this:

http://yourusername:yourpassword@yourdomain.com/securearea/yourcronpage.php