crontab problems

[ksmatthews]

Good Morning,

I am new to Linux and so still have a lot to learn ...

I have a file called crontab in /etc/crontab, and I can edit it using
vi /etc/crontab.

I have an entry, as follows ...

0/1 * * * * ~/public_html/swordfish/call_centre/cron/auto_report_fred.sh

BUT cron does NOT run it. Why not ?

Another problem is when I use the crontab command 'crontab -e' to edit the crontab file, it creates a new one and does not see my manual changes.

I have also tried create a crontab file like this 'crontab <filename>'
but that reports the following error ....

"no crontab for root - using an empty one"

How do I use crontab correctly ??

regards,

Steven M

[HROAdmin26]

You can find tons of cron info via Google => Example

Edit cron for the current user you are logged in as:

crontab -e

Edit cron for another user (only root can do this):

crontab -u <user> -e

A ~ means the home folder of whatever user the crontab is running under. So if the crontab's user is roger, then it's looking for /home/roger (assuming default home dir.)

Root's home is /root usually (on Linux.)

To view crontab's, use the list switch:

crontab -l

[ohgary]

crontab usually goes under /var/spool/cron/tab/user_name may vary by linux flavor.

Where ever it is it should never be directly edited, Only use crontab -e to edit the entry.

[TuxKnight]

You might want to do a backup of the original crontab file before using crontab -e

Creating a copy

crontab -l > /root/crontab.orig.<date>

To restore use the following

crontab /root/crontab.orig.<date>