CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonlinuxscheduled-taskscron
HackCode
HackCode

Reputation: 1857

Crontab not working for python

I am trying to set a cron task for running a python script everyday at a specific time. Here is my crontab -e:

53 16 * * * python /code/4dlife/pythonscript.py

and I set this at 16:52 and waited and watched but nothing came up on the terminal. I checked nano CRON /var/log/syslog but it was empty.

What am I doing wrong? Can I see the script running on the same terminal as I have open? If not, where else can I see the output? BUT FIRST, I need to make it work.

Note:

  1. I have #!/usr/bin/env python on top of my python script
  2. I am running this on a virtual box with linux installed.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 951

Answers (3)

Peter
Peter

Reputation: 57

Use the exact path of your python executable in your crontab:

     53 16 * * * /usr/bin/python /code/4dlife/pythonscript.py

This way you can be certain that your crontab knows where to find python.

A way to debug scripts that run automatically is writing to syslog :

    import syslog

    syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_ERR, "---SCRIPT START---")

Upvotes: 1

paulochf
paulochf

Reputation: 708

I used to have problems with Python in cron, but they were solved as I began to use virtualenv/virtualenvwrapper + pyenv .

Since them, I have used cron running the command with Python's full path, like

53 16 * * * /usr/bin/python /code/4dlife/pythonscript.py

. To get the full path, run in the shell

$ which python

and use the path as I showed.

The difference is that, in my case, the Python binary is located on a specific folder (~/.virtualenv/<env-name>/bin/python).

Upvotes: 0

P45
P45

Reputation: 1

Does your script work correctly in the terminal? I mean, when you type :

python /code/4dlife/pythonscript.py

Does the result appear?

Upvotes: 0

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