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Date:      Thu, 26 Dec 2002 12:10:57 -0600
From:      "Jack L. Stone" <jackstone@sage-one.net>
To:        Kirk Bailey <idiot1@netzero.net>, Mike Jeays <mj001@rogers.com>
Cc:        FreeBSD-Questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: cron/crontab befuddlement
Message-ID:  <3.0.5.32.20021226121057.0125d188@mail.sage-one.net>
In-Reply-To: <3E0B3EAC.8070105@netzero.net>
References:  <3E0B2984.7020405@netzero.net> <3E0B3AFB.4050607@rogers.com>

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At 12:38 PM 12.26.2002 -0500, Kirk Bailey wrote:
>ok, this is making sense. Do you recall how to configure the FreeBSD so it 
>will define a preferred editor in the environment? As of now, it runs the 
>default of vi, which I dispise,. I have ee and pico in my box, and 
>generally run pico.
>
>
>
>Mike Jeays wrote:
>> Kirk Bailey wrote:
>> 
>>> ok, I read man cron and man crontab, and it's as clear as mud. 
>>> Anyplace I can read more and maybe make the light dawn on this useful 
>>> feature? OR, would anyone care to explain more?
>>>
>> Basically, you create a file where each line is a command to be executed 
>> on a given schedule.  The line looks like this (first line is a 
>> descriptive comment):
>> 
>> #minute    hour    mday    month    wday      command
>>       15             5       *       *              *           
>> /home/mike/bin/FindAll
>> 
>> This says to run the command /home/mike/bin/FindAll at 15 minutes past 
>> 5, every day.
>> The asterisks mean "ignore this field", in effect.
>> 
>> Wday is the day of the week (I think Sunday=0, Monday 1 etc, but check)
>> Month is the month, either 1-12 or a three-letter abbreviation, such as 
>> "Oct"
>> Mday is the day of the month.
>> 
>> So to run something at 11:15 on October 1st, you would say:
>> 15   11   1   Oct * /home/me/mycommand.
>> 
>> You must create this file by running "crontab -e", which will put you into
>> your favourite editor.  You can examine the file with "crontab -l"
>> 
>> That's it, in a nutshell - details are from memory, so please check!
>> 

No, you don't need to run "crontab -e" and can use Pico as follows (also
use the setenv to keep the editor as Pico):

Within each $HOME, just create a regular file using your preferred Pico
editor and name the file "cronfile" or whatever and set up the same fields.
You can copy the file from:
/usr/share/examples/etc/crontab
...to the various user homes.

After edits for commands, then just run "crontab cronfile" within each user
being setup.

running "crontab -l" will confirm if the file is active according to your
setup.

Best regards,
Jack L. Stone,
Administrator

SageOne Net
http://www.sage-one.net
jackstone@sage-one.net

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