# Dynamic crontab edition from php

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709>\
**Category:** programming\
**Created:** [May 30, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709 "2008-05-30T02:32:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dinchu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@dinchu37](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/dinchu37)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/1 "2008-05-30T02:32:44Z")

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Hi, i would like to know if is possible to Dynamic edit a crontab file from php, if it’s possible can someone tell me how? i searched for this info about 2 days and never got an accuarate answer.

how i’m supposed to give apache access to get the crontab file?

what url i’m supposed to put in the php scrip to open it?

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**Author:** ![sekasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@sekasi](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sekasi)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/2 "2008-05-30T22:46:43Z")

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yes, it’s possible. The crontab file is simply a \*nix text file; if you can handle serial access files it shouldn’t post that big of a problem. Just don’t forget to issue a system command to update the Cron file (crontab file\_containing\_new\_info)

GL

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dinchu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@dinchu37](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/dinchu37)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/3 "2008-05-30T23:21:16Z")

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i have a dedicated server how can I handle serial access files ?  
how can i access that file from php?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sekasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@sekasi](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sekasi)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/4 "2008-05-31T01:01:01Z")

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Well, um, something like this. Just keep CWD in mind and make sure you do a chown and chmod of the php file and the directory you want to edit so that apache has read/write/execute (7) rights.

```php

<?php
$mynewcron = "0 30 * * * sh /wwwroot/htdocs/stuff/shellscript.sh";
$handle = fopen("/wwwroot/htdocs/stuff/myjob", "a+");
fwrite($handle, "$mynewcron
");
fclose($handle);
$cronresult = exec("crontab /wwwroot/htdocs/stuff/myjob")
echo $cronresult;
?>

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dinchu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@dinchu37](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/dinchu37)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/5 "2008-05-31T01:19:49Z")

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i have a dedicated server how can I handle serial access files ?  
how can i access that file from php?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sekasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@sekasi](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sekasi)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/6 "2008-05-31T01:21:55Z")

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wtf ? I posted example code up there 😛

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dinchu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@dinchu37](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/dinchu37)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/7 "2008-06-03T18:55:44Z")

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thank you sekasi!

what should i do with current working directory?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dinchu37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@dinchu37](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/dinchu37)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/dynamic-crontab-edition-from-php/261709/8 "2008-06-04T01:27:46Z")

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thank you sekasi!

what should i do with current working directory?