run bash command inside a cron job in ubuntu

FeRcHo

10/18/22, 1:01 PM

I have a server running Ubuntu and I would like to create a cron job that runs every hour, the detail is that I want this cron to execute a bash command in a specific path, this would be an example of my command sudo bash/path/file , so my cron job should run that every hour, is it possible to do this in a cron job ?, any help would be appreciated

290

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command-line

bash

scripts

cron

terdon

10/18/22, 1:26 PM

Why do you need `sudo`? What does this script do? You can't use `sudo` in cron, but in order to give a working solution, we need to understand if it is actually needed.

glenn jackman

10/18/22, 1:38 PM

You'll want to read [`man 5 crontab`](https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/focal/en/man5/crontab.5.html) to learn about the format. And do `sudo crontab -e` to edit **root**'s crontab instead of putting sudo in your crontab.

Score:1

Ubuntu

Javier Galarza

10/18/22, 1:44 PM

That is completely possible. Just add the entry on the crontab file with crontab -e using the correct user. You can also move your script at /etc/cron.hourly. Just take in count that bash files under /etc/cron.hourly will run under root. If you want to run your script under a target user, use the crontab approach and make sure to provide the absolute path of your script and your user can execute the script. e.g

@hourly /my/bash/script.sh
#or
0 * * * * /my/bash/script.sh

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FeRcHo

10/18/22, 2:01 PM

thanks for answering, I have some doubts. How can I move my script to the /etc/cron.hourly folder, if I want it to run as root, or what way to do it is more efficient for this case? And another question, my command uses bash, do I have to put the absolute path to bash and also to the file that I want to execute?

Javier Galarza

10/18/22, 2:15 PM

Can you provide the command or script that you want to run in cron?

FeRcHo

10/18/22, 2:42 PM

It is a command that executes a file to clear the cache, I execute it in the following way inside the folder of my web, where is said file "sudo bash ss-purge-opcache"

Javier Galarza

10/21/22, 7:10 PM

Just create a file at `/etc/cron.hourly` : `touch /etc/cron.hourly/update.cache` and put that command inside that file. You do not need to use the `sudo` since that script will run as root. Also, provide the correct permissions `chmod a+x /etc/cron.hourly/update.cache`. You may need to provide absolute path, if that is the case find your absolute path of the command with `which ss-purge-opcache`

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: run bash command inside a cron job in ubuntu

TH: รันคำสั่ง bash ภายในงาน cron ใน Ubuntu

RO: rulați comanda bash într-un job cron în ubuntu

RU: запустить команду bash внутри задания cron в ubuntu

VI: chạy lệnh bash bên trong một công việc định kỳ trong Ubuntu

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