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I attempted to create my first serious task with cron that has to download remote file (currency rates) and save it locally. My setup is W7/WMware Workstation 12 Player + Ubuntu 16.04. Everything works perfectly as I run it on localhost or debug it (netbeans). But I get strange errors when cron job is run (every 2nd minute) -

*/2 * * * * /var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php

my php file looks like this:

<?php
//ini_set('display_errors',1);
//error_reporting(E_ALL);
Define("RATES_FILE", "http://www.cnb.cz/cs/financni_trhy/devizovy_trh/kurzy_devizoveho_trhu/denni_kurz.txt");

$rates= file(RATES_FILE);
if($rates){
    $myfile = fopen("/var/www/html/myproject/cron/rates.txt", "w");
    $info = getdate();
    $hour = $info['hours'];
    $min = $info['minutes'];
    $sec = $info['seconds'];

    $current_date = "$hour:$min:$sec";
    foreach ($rates as $v) {
        fwrite($myfile, $v);
    }
    fwrite($myfile,"Downloaded: ".$current_date);
    fclose($myfile);
}
exit();
?>

When run locally from web browser the rates.txt is created properly. But cron produces following errors (info sent via email) :

/var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php: 1: 
/var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php: cannot open ?php: No such file
/var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php: 2: 
/var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")")

Same result is given when I run simplier code:

<?php
//ini_set('display_errors',1);
//error_reporting(E_ALL);

$myfile = fopen("/var/www/html/myproject/cron/rates.txt", "w");
$info = getdate();
$hour = $info['hours'];
$min = $info['minutes'];
$sec = $info['seconds'];

$current_date = "$hour:$min:$sec";
fwrite($myfile,"Downloaded: ".$current_date);
fclose($myfile);
exit();
?>

Is there anything I overlooked or ignored in terms of cron practice ? Thank you for help.

Anderquo
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    `*/2 * * * * /var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php` => will work if the script file has executable permissions. Give executable permissions or try with `*/2 * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/myproject/cron/cnb.php` See [How to create cron job using PHP?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18737407/how-to-create-cron-job-using-php) – Chris Sep 10 '17 at 15:40
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    with /usr/bin/php it works like a charm ! God bless you ! – Anderquo Sep 10 '17 at 15:59
  • In my defence to Chris&M Khalid. it took me quite long time to investigate the issue. Of course I read cron manuals that focus mostly on parameters only but its not what I wanted to solve here, Anyway I dont think my question is exact duplicate of other previous question so your statement is not true. – Anderquo Sep 18 '17 at 11:57
  • I agreed that the question is not an *exact* duplicate (while this is the word used in the common message). The reason I didn't post my comment as an answer, is because that answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/18737637/2387010, to a more general question about cron, was clearly what you needed. I preferred put a link to that question instead of duplicating this part of the answer here. I am convinced of your sincerity and there is nothing against you here, nothing to defense :) – Chris Sep 18 '17 at 12:23

0 Answers0