How to run shell script daily in Mac Os X?

Question

I am using Mac Os x. I have an shell script and i want to run this automatically daily for given time. Is there anyway to do this without using third party tool.

Dupes a question on superuser - https://superuser.com/questions/126907/how-can-i-get-a-script-to-run-every-day-on-mac-os-x — Warren Burton, Aug 07 '18 at 08:40
Duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36854193/scheduling-a-terminal-command-or-script-file-to-run-daily-at-a-specific-time-mac — Jim DeLaHunt, Dec 15 '21 at 07:56

Kerberos · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07T09:15:08.007

11

Yes of course, you can use crontab!

Firstly open the terminal, then launch crontab with:

crontab -e

In some cases you need to specify the editor (es.nano) like this:

env EDITOR=nano crontab -e

Now you can add your daily script at 3am like this:

0  3  *  *  *  sh /path/to/your/file

The format is:

min  hour  day_of_month  month  day_of_week  your_command

After save the cron, you can check the crontab list whit:

crontab -l

And if you want remove it with:

crontab -r

edited Aug 07 '18 at 09:15

answered Aug 07 '18 at 08:42

Kerberos

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No, I've just used it in HighSierra, what system you use? – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 08:49
Thanks @Kerberos. I tried this 0 14 30 * * sh /Library/Agents/_wrk/OldFilesDelete.sh But nothing happened – A M N Kumari Aug 07 '18 at 08:56
is there anything missing – A M N Kumari Aug 07 '18 at 08:58
@AMNKumari, your cron is triggered only montly, for daily you must add an * at the day_of_month camp. – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 08:58
Use `env EDITOR=nano crontab -e` instead of `crontab -e`, if you prefer vim you can use vim instead of nano in the command – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 09:04
@AMNKumari, if you want to start daily at 11:03am you can use: `3 11 * * * sh /yourPath/yourScript.sh` – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 09:06
i had entered it. so after that how i know its working or not. its not showing any message. – A M N Kumari Aug 07 '18 at 09:09
You can use a test script with `touch asd` that creates a new file. It is normal that it not show nothing after save the crontab. – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 09:12
@AMNKumari see the edit to show the crontab list and if you want remove it – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 09:15
After adding the command if you use nano you can use cmd+x and then Y to save, if you use vim you can use `:wq` to save and quit. – Kerberos Aug 07 '18 at 10:11
1

its saved now. (Y) – A M N Kumari Aug 07 '18 at 10:27
i entered like this but its not run correct time 48 7 * * * sh /Library/Agents/_wrk/OldFilesDelete.sh – A M N Kumari Aug 08 '18 at 02:36

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 07 '18 at 09:05

You can do this via LaunchDaemons

Just create a file with below syntax and put on /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and save it in .plist

now script will run every 13:30 Hours - you can change time what ever you want

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>COM.COMPANY.LOGGER</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>YOUR-SCRIPT-LOCATION</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
          <key>Hour</key>
          <integer>13</integer>
          <key>Minute</key>
          <integer>15</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Have you typed your script location on 9th line. `/User/Desktop/test.sh` — Skull, Aug 10 '18 at 14:51

How to run shell script daily in Mac Os X?

2 Answers2