NAME

cron − clock daemon

SYNOPSIS

/etc/cron

DESCRIPTION

Cron executes commands at specified dates and times.  Regularly scheduled commands can be specified according to instructions found in crontab files; users can submit their own crontab file via the crontab command.  Commands which are to be executed only once may be submitted via the at command.  Since cron never exits, it should only be executed once.  This is best done by running cron from the initialization process through the file /etc/rc (see init(1M)). 

Cron only examines crontab files and at(1) command files during process initialization and when a file changes.  This reduces the overhead of checking for new or changed files at regularly scheduled intervals. 

FILES

SEE ALSO

at(1), crontab(1), init(1M), sh(1). 

DIAGNOSTICS

A history of all actions taken by cron are recorded in /usr/lib/cron/log. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  Version B.1,  April 12, 1993