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Asked: 2026-06-12T23:36:33+00:00

Ok I have been looking into cron jobs for hours, checked every post here,

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Ok I have been looking into cron jobs for hours, checked every post here, looked in google but I just do not understand how it works.

I have set up a cron job using my path 1 * * * * /home/myuser/domains/mysite/public_html/live.php I have also tried /home/myuser/public_html/live.php
Nothing seems to be working.

Do I have to add something in the php file (live.php)? That is the code that has to be executed. The code itself works.

I know you will all think that I am lazy but I really can’t figure this out.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    *.php is regular script file which, as any other scripting languages like i.e. perl requires interpreter to run. So if you want to run your script from command line you have either call interpreter and give it your script file as argument, like:

    $ /usr/bin/php myscript.php

    And that’s it – it should run.

    Or (if working using linux/bsd) add as very first line of your PHP script file:

    #!/usr/bin/php -q

    which tells shell, where to look for interpreter for this script file. Please ensure your PHP is in /usr/bin folder as this may vary depending on the distro. You can check this using which, like this:

    $ which php
/usr/bin/php

    if path is right, you yet need to set executable bit on script file so you’d be able to try to “launch it”:

    chmod a+x myscript.php

    This will make it behave as any other app, so you’d be able to launch it this way:

    /full/path/to/myscript.php

    or from current folder:

    ./myscript.php

    And that’s it for that approach. It should run.

    So your crontab line would look (depending on the choosen approach):

    1 * * * * /full/path/to/myscript.php

    or

    1 * * * * /usr/bin/php -q /full/path/to/myscript.php

    And you should rather use “0” not “1”, as 1st minute in hour is zero, i.e.:

    0 * * * * /usr/bin/php -q /full/path/to/myscript.php

    EDIT

    Please note cron working directory is user’s home directory. So you need to put that into consideration, which usually means using absolute pathes. Alternatively you’d prepend your call with cd <script working path> && /usr/bin/php -q /full/....

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