Question

I’m interested in what the code (command line and php) would look like where every minute or hour you take inventory of the number of item sales obtained from a mysql database and do some action based on that. I’m using CodeIgniter for PHP and I’ll call my controller “cronControl”.

Here’s what I have so far for the command line part (including directory):

:htdocs TimPeterson$ * * * * * php index.php cronControl countSales

Here’s the cronControl php part:

class CronControl extends CI_Controller {

  function countSales(){
     $count=$this->db->query("SELECT stuff");
     //do->stuff->based on $count;
     $count="i counted 137 items";          
     file_put_contents("mylogfile.txt", $count);
  }
}

When I type the above command into shell I get:

-bash: 404.php: command not found

It looks like it is evaluating all the php scripts in my root directory (where my 404.php page is) and not just the cronControl/countSales controller. Please note that this shell command works and prints $count to mylogfile.txt if you leave out the 5 asterisks.

Any thoughts on what’s going on?

problem solved!!!:
the key is when typing the command in the crontab file to include the asterisks, but in the shell to NOT include the asterisks

so in crontab -e:

* * * * * /usr/bin/php /applications/xampp/htdocs/index.php cronControl countSales

whereas in htdocs $

    /usr/bin/php /applications/xampp/htdocs/index.php cronControl countSales

Answer 1

With massive assistance from Dan, this issue is now solved. the key when typing the command is in the crontab file to include the asterisks, but in the shell to NOT include the asterisks:

crontab -e: * * * * * /usr/bin/php /applications/xampp/htdocs/index.php cronControl countSales

Whereas in htdocs

$ /usr/bin/php /applications/xampp/htdocs/index.php cronControl countSales