running php file from cron - file doesn't execute

keithstric

Hello everyone, I've been fighting trying to get a cron job which runs a php file to run properly. This php file should be sending me an email with some information from the database in it, but instead it's emailing me the source code of the file I'm trying to run.

Also, if I try to run that same php file from the command line it just shows me the code and doesn't actually run. Here's the command line:

/usr/bin/php /srv/www/htdocs/dolphin/periodic/notifies.php

It's not just that file, it's any php file I try to run from the command line. Can someone please help me get this sorted out?

Thanks,
Keith

Oh yeah, I've checked and changed the permissions on the file from 644 to 777 with the same results. I've also added #!/usr/bin/php as the first line in notifies.php with the same results. Everything I've tried, none of it has made a difference.

bpat1434

What's the php file look like? It shouldn't need a shebang line, just the typical "<?php" opening tag.

NogDog

Have you tried it with some really simple "hello world" type PHP script to verify if it's the PHP command line config or your script? One thought is if the script uses short_open_tag (<? instead of <?php), but maybe the command line config does not have that option enabled?

keithstric

I have since taken the shebang line out because it didn't make a difference. But you can see the email here which is the code within notifies.php.

But where do you turn on the short_open_tag for the command line? I've got it enabled and working for php files being displayed via the browser.

I haven't tried something simple, I will try your recommendation and report back what happens.

Thanks for your help with this...
Keith

OK, I tried this:

<?php
echo "Hello World";
?>

I then ran it from the command line by typing:
/usr/bin/php testcli.php

That returned Hello World to the command line. I then changed that to read:
<?
echo "Hello World";
?>

I then ran it again with the same command as above and that returned the code instead of just "Hello World" So it appears that it doesn't like those short PHP tags. So, where do I change that?

Keith

bpat1434

easiest thing is just change your coding style to use <?php instead of <?

Or in php.ini set "allow_short_open_tags" to on

keithstric

I would like to change the coding style but it's a public domain script, so if/when I upgraded it would all be set back :-(

But I changed that and will report back what happens. Thank you for all your help as I wasn't getting any help on the products support site >:-(

Keith

NogDog

Yet another example of why <?php is much better than <?, since <?php always works. Glad we at least identified the problem, anyway.

keithstric

OK, This almost worked. Seems I have 2 php.ini files. One located at /etc/php5/apache2 and another at /etc/php5/cli. The tag referenced above needs to be in the /etc/php5/cli/php.ini file and now it all works like a charm.

Thank you for all your help with this.

Keith