Unix Tip #4516- July 23, 2023


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ACCIDENTS WITH CRONTAB


Ever typed the crontab
command and forgot
the -l option?

That's kinda dangerous,
for if you hit ctrl-D
to get back to the
prompt, your crontab's
gone.

To prevent this, make a
script with the following
contents:

#!/bin/ksh
if [[ $# -eq 0 ]] ; then
echo "crontab: no option specified. Aborted."
exit 2
else
/usr/bin/crontab "$@"
fi


Make sure the script is
executable and put it in
a directory that's in your
PATH BEFORE the /usr/bin
directory.

Now if you type crontab
without option or filename,
you'll just get an error
message. If you want to pipe
some stuff to crontab, you
still can do it like this:

% somecommand | crontab -


This tip generously supported by: kees.couprie+ugu@swift.com

NOTE: All tips provided are USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Tips are submitted by various unix admins around the globe. UGU suggest you read and test each tip in a non-volitile environment before placing into production.


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