How to create a cron job using Bash automatically without the interactive editor?

Question

Does crontab have an argument for creating cron jobs without using the editor (crontab -e). If so, What would be the code create a cronjob from a Bash script?

Answer 1

You can add to the crontab as follows:

#write out current crontab crontab -l > mycron #echo new cron into cron file echo "00 09 * * 1-5 echo hello" >> mycron #install new cron file crontab mycron rm mycron 

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Cron line explaination

* * * * * "command to be executed" - - - - - | | | | | | | | | ----- Day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday=0 or 7) | | | ------- Month (1 - 12) | | --------- Day of month (1 - 31) | ----------- Hour (0 - 23) ------------- Minute (0 - 59) 

Source nixCraft.