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Crontab: Ubuntu running script (noob)

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2

I'm new to crontab and would like to run the following script from /etc/crontab:

0 15    * * *   root    bash-c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

I have tried with and without bash-c option, yet the script doesn't run.

My objective is:

1. Get this script running from Crontab


2. Get this script running on startup

Help is appreciated.

bash scripts cron

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

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2

I'm new to crontab and would like to run the following script from /etc/crontab:

0 15    * * *   root    bash-c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

I have tried with and without bash-c option, yet the script doesn't run.

My objective is:

1. Get this script running from Crontab


2. Get this script running on startup

Help is appreciated.

bash scripts cron

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

112

New contributor

orrp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

I'm new to crontab and would like to run the following script from /etc/crontab:

0 15    * * *   root    bash-c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

I have tried with and without bash-c option, yet the script doesn't run.

My objective is:

1. Get this script running from Crontab


2. Get this script running on startup

Help is appreciated.

bash scripts cron

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

112

New contributor

orrp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

0 15    * * *   root    bash-c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

112

New contributor

orrp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

112

New contributor

orrp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

edited 1 hour ago

dessert

24.1k670104

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

112

New contributor

orrp is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 1 hour ago

orrporrp

112

1 Answer
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5

You're missing a space after the command bash and the argument -c.

This should work:

0 15    * * *  root bash -c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

---

Some additional hints:

• Don't run a crontab as user root if you don't need to.


• You wrote that you put it in /etc/crontab file. Don't edit crontab files directly, rather use crontab -e command or sudo crontab -e for commands which need root rights. Note, that you don't put the user field in the "other" crontab files.



• If you have more than one command you can use bash -c as you do, but I'd rather put the commands in a script and execute this from crontab.




• To run a script on startup, you can use @reboot instead of 0 15 * * *.

share|improve this answer

edited 55 mins ago

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  “I'm not sure what the word root is about here.” See the header of /etc/crontab: Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the crontab command to install the new version when you edit this file and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields, that none of the other crontabs do. However, in this case, only the user’s home folder is involved, so root should be not used in this case.
  
  – Melebius
  58 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  thanks, as I never edited /etc/crontab directly I didn't even know this... :-D
  
  – RoVo
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  See also Two Other Types of Crontab
  
  – steeldriver
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I suspect there may be a more fundamental issue with running a bash -c command from cron, since IIRC each command is implicitly executed by /bin/sh -c (or, more exactly, $SHELL -c). It may be necessary to set SHELL=/bin/bash (to suport brace expansion etc.) and then run the command without the bash -c wrapper. But really the best approach (as you note) is to put the bash code in an external script file.
  
  – steeldriver
  9 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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5

You're missing a space after the command bash and the argument -c.

This should work:

0 15    * * *  root bash -c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

---

Some additional hints:

• Don't run a crontab as user root if you don't need to.


• You wrote that you put it in /etc/crontab file. Don't edit crontab files directly, rather use crontab -e command or sudo crontab -e for commands which need root rights. Note, that you don't put the user field in the "other" crontab files.



• If you have more than one command you can use bash -c as you do, but I'd rather put the commands in a script and execute this from crontab.




• To run a script on startup, you can use @reboot instead of 0 15 * * *.

share|improve this answer

edited 55 mins ago

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  “I'm not sure what the word root is about here.” See the header of /etc/crontab: Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the crontab command to install the new version when you edit this file and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields, that none of the other crontabs do. However, in this case, only the user’s home folder is involved, so root should be not used in this case.
  
  – Melebius
  58 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  thanks, as I never edited /etc/crontab directly I didn't even know this... :-D
  
  – RoVo
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  See also Two Other Types of Crontab
  
  – steeldriver
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I suspect there may be a more fundamental issue with running a bash -c command from cron, since IIRC each command is implicitly executed by /bin/sh -c (or, more exactly, $SHELL -c). It may be necessary to set SHELL=/bin/bash (to suport brace expansion etc.) and then run the command without the bash -c wrapper. But really the best approach (as you note) is to put the bash code in an external script file.
  
  – steeldriver
  9 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

5

You're missing a space after the command bash and the argument -c.

This should work:

0 15    * * *  root bash -c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

---

Some additional hints:

• Don't run a crontab as user root if you don't need to.


• You wrote that you put it in /etc/crontab file. Don't edit crontab files directly, rather use crontab -e command or sudo crontab -e for commands which need root rights. Note, that you don't put the user field in the "other" crontab files.



• If you have more than one command you can use bash -c as you do, but I'd rather put the commands in a script and execute this from crontab.




• To run a script on startup, you can use @reboot instead of 0 15 * * *.

share|improve this answer

edited 55 mins ago

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842

• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  “I'm not sure what the word root is about here.” See the header of /etc/crontab: Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the crontab command to install the new version when you edit this file and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields, that none of the other crontabs do. However, in this case, only the user’s home folder is involved, so root should be not used in this case.
  
  – Melebius
  58 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  thanks, as I never edited /etc/crontab directly I didn't even know this... :-D
  
  – RoVo
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  See also Two Other Types of Crontab
  
  – steeldriver
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I suspect there may be a more fundamental issue with running a bash -c command from cron, since IIRC each command is implicitly executed by /bin/sh -c (or, more exactly, $SHELL -c). It may be necessary to set SHELL=/bin/bash (to suport brace expansion etc.) and then run the command without the bash -c wrapper. But really the best approach (as you note) is to put the bash code in an external script file.
  
  – steeldriver
  9 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

You're missing a space after the command bash and the argument -c.

This should work:

0 15    * * *  root bash -c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

---

Some additional hints:

• Don't run a crontab as user root if you don't need to.


• You wrote that you put it in /etc/crontab file. Don't edit crontab files directly, rather use crontab -e command or sudo crontab -e for commands which need root rights. Note, that you don't put the user field in the "other" crontab files.



• If you have more than one command you can use bash -c as you do, but I'd rather put the commands in a script and execute this from crontab.




• To run a script on startup, you can use @reboot instead of 0 15 * * *.

share|improve this answer

edited 55 mins ago

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842

0 15    * * *  root bash -c 'for i in /home/dell/Downloads/*.{pdf,docx,png,jpg,PDF,DOCX}; do shred -zvu "$i" -n20; done'

share|improve this answer

edited 55 mins ago

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842

answered 1 hour ago

RoVoRoVo

7,6041842