Cron Jobs with PHP and other File Types

Summary

This article will provide examples of different commands you can use in Cron Job. If you need a different explanation on Cron Jobs, please refer to this list of Cron Job articles:

Cron Job Basics
Setup or Remove a Cron Job
Crons Running at Specific Date and Time
Specify a Cron Job to use a Specific php.ini File
Cron Jobs with PHP and other File Types

Command lines. Examples only! Bold sections must be changed.

Note: You may need to adjust /home/ to /home#/ depending on the home directory your account resides on. To view the home directory for your account simply view the stats column on the main cPanel page of your account and look for the home directory.

PHP

Command to run a PHP5 cron job:

php /home/username/public_html/cron.php

Optional flags are sometimes required for a PHP cron job:

php -q /home/username/public_html/cron.php

Command to use a specific php.ini file:

php -c /home/username/public_html/php.ini /home/username/public_html/myscript.php

Command to GET a remote file:

/usr/bin/GET http://www.example.com/file.php

Perl

Command to run a CGI cron job:

perl /home/username/public_html/cgi-bin/file.pl

SSH

Command to run a shell script cron job:

/bin/sh /home/username/public_html/file.sh

MySQL

Note: It is good practice to not type your password out in the follow commands but to simply use the -p flag alone and have the system prompt you for the password. This is way your password stays secure and is never on the server as plain text.

Command to import a database:

mysql -u mysql_user -ppassword database_name < backup.sql

Command to export a database:

mysqldump -u mysql_user -ppassword database_name > backup.sql