Cron and Php

[Sayian]

Im trying to execute a php file at intervals using cron

if i call the file from my web browser it runs fine , but if i setup a cron job in cpanel , when the script runs , it just emails me a bunch of errors

is their anyway i can make this happen with cron?

[drew010]

are you calling it like
/usr/bin/php -f /full/path/to/script.php
where /usr/bin is the location of php?
what errors are they, php errors or related to running the programs?

[Sayian]

Hello drew , no i was not calling the files that way , but i can change that and see if it works.

As for the errors , this is what it emailed me

/home/site1/cron/active.php: line 1: ?php: No such file or directory
/home/site1/cron/active.php: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token "DB_SERVER",'
/home/site1/cron/active.php: line 3: define("DB_SERVER", "localhost"); // Server'

Funny thing is , it will work properly in a web browser , but perhaps the errors were occuring b/c i wasnt using the path like you had mentioned ... Would that cause this?

[drew010]

judging by the errors, it was trying to execute it as a shell script, not a php script. see what happens when calling it with php -f

[Sayian]

Strange .. the same errors are being produced ...

i tried running the script from a bash promt , and also got the same errors logged in thru SSH.

[drew010]

hm yeah that is weird, id make a copy of the script then, and put
#!/usr/bin/php -q
at the top right before the <?php
then chmod it to 755 and call it like
/path/to/script.php

[Sayian]

/home/site1/cron/active.php: /usr/local/lib/php: bad interpreter: Permission denied

[drew010]

very strange...
just to make sure, when you called it using the php binary, did you do it like
/usr/local/lib/php -f /home/site1/cron/active.php

[rikmoncur]

This is my path in cpanel - it might help?

/usr/bin/php -f /home2/MYUSERNAME/public_html/MYDIRECTORY/MYSCRIPT.php