At script, Possible?

[hauwkim]

Hello there

Can I write a script to schedule an at job
I tried (a segment of the script files only)

at 13:00
/home/hk/scripts/abc.sh
^d

it just doesn't work
abc.sh is the script that i want to run at 13:00 today

Thanks in advance

[mrBen]

You could add it to your crontab instead - might be easier.

Just add a line something like this:

0 13 * * * hk /home/hk/scripts/abc.sh

[hauwkim]

Hello mrBen

I did.
I've also output the results into a dump file.
It looks as thou the script started to run then it jus exited or hangs whithout returning any errors...

I run the same script as an at job, it was completed sucessfully

Thats how I came to the conclusion of using the cron to schedule the at jobs.

But so far the at script did not work. Even if I execute it manually.

[mrBen]

Originally posted by hauwkim
Hello mrBen

I did.
I've also output the results into a dump file.
It looks as thou the script started to run then it jus exited or hangs whithout returning any errors...

I run the same script as an at job, it was completed sucessfully

Thats how I came to the conclusion of using the cron to schedule the at jobs.

But so far the at script did not work. Even if I execute it manually.

What - you're using an at script within a cron job? Why?

Double check your permissions - that's usually a key for cron jobs, IIRC.

And if you're using at, then I don't think you need the colon - 1300 should do. Plus, if you are running from a terminal window, you will probably need to leave the window open so that it continues to process the at command.

Oh - and check that the job is accepted by running at -l (that's an L, not a 1) to list the current at jobs.

[hauwkim]

okie i will do more digging in cron

for the mean time can i write a script to call the cron job?
somethin like

at 1300
ls
^D

if I run the script above what it will do is it will list out all the folders in the current directory?

[mrBen]

Originally posted by hauwkim
okie i will do more digging in cron

for the mean time can i write a script to call the cron job?

You don't write a script to call a cron job. Cron is for scheduling - when you add a line to your crontab file, it tells it to run a script at a particular time, and then the cron daemon will do it for you.

somethin like

at 1300
ls
^D

if I run the script above what it will do is it will list out all the folders in the current directory?

Kind of, yes. But it won't do it in the current terminal, thus you won't see anything. Pipe the output to a file, and then open that file.

mrben@hobbes:~$ touch at-test
mrben@hobbes:~$ cat at-test
mrben@hobbes:~$ date
Mon Apr 11 10:33:07 BST 2005
mrben@hobbes:~$ at 1034
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
at> echo "this is a test" > at-test
at> <EOT>
job 2 at 2005-04-11 10:34
mrben@hobbes:~$ at -l
2       2005-04-11 10:34 a mrben
mrben@hobbes:~$ cat at-test
this is a test
mrben@hobbes:~$ at -l
mrben@hobbes:~$

[hauwkim]

one last thing

if i wrote

#!/bin/bash
at 1034
echo "this is a test" > at-test
^D

and save the above as test.sh

then if i excute ./test.sh
and then later do a at -l, i should be able to see something like

2 2005-04-11 10:34 a

and it will create a file call "at-test" with the content "this is a test"

but after i excute the test.sh it went into the at prompt (at>)

does this mean this cannot be done this way or i have written a wrong test.sh

Many thanks

[mrBen]

OK - you need to think about how bash executes scripts: it does them line by line as if you were typing them in. When your script gets to at 1034 bash runs the at command and then waits for standard input. The script doesn't replace standard input.

If you use at -f then it can use a file as an input instead of standard input, which would then work within a script

but

this is getting very awkward very quickly - can you explain why you are not just using a script within cron, rather than trying to put at within a script? Are your jobs not regular?

[retsaw]

To do what you want and give at the input it wants try

echo 'echo "this is a test" > at-test'|at 1034

it works for me.

I worked this out because I use at to play music as an alarm clock and the request for input was annoying.

[hauwkim]

this is getting very awkward very quickly - can you explain why you are not just using a script within cron, rather than trying to put at within a script? Are your jobs not regular?

The main reason why I came to this work around is because the script file that I have run runs smoothly when I use "at" but it does not complete if I schedule a cron job.

I have done a bit of digging, what I have understand is that cron does not execute batch jobs in full session mode. In order for it to finish the job I will need to provide all the runtime environment needed by the batch either in the .profile or the batch file itself.

You might wonder what does the batch file is actually doing. Well ... what it does is it will dump DB2 data into the Linux box. After translation it will the dump the same data into ORA.

The funny thing is that this batch file has been running fine untill recently.

One more thing, if I would to use "at -l" how do I do a "ctr+d" in the input file? I will normally do a ctr+d to submit the at job if I wolud to do this manually. I have try "^D" and "^d" it just did not work

And retsaw, I will try that when I got back inda off tomorrow. I have tried it on my house pc and it works.

[apeekaboo]

Perhaps your script is depending on some environment variables not found in the shell which cron is executed with (usually bourne shell)?
Have a look at crontab(5) and see if this could be solved by using the SHELL or PATH variable.

You could also redirect any output from your script to a file, to see if any clues are given to what is wrong.

[JThundley]

Here's a snippet of my script that I use to remove my customers' data after a month:

echo rm -Rf \""/home/incoming/customer/$*"\" | at + 1 month

[hauwkim]

tat did it

echo 'echo "this is a test" > at-test'|at 1034

thanks guys for all of your effort

thanks again