cron fields 1 Minute 0-59 2 Hour 0-23 (0 = midnight) 3 Day 1-31 4 Month 1-12 5 Weekday 0-6 (0 = Sunday) To open crontab: crontab -e To view crontab crontab -l To open another users crontab in Solaris: crontab -l admin To open another users crontab in Linux: crontab -u admin -l When you get a number after running crontab -e: first go into sh >sh then run >EDITOR=vi >export EDITOR or >EDITOR=vi;export EDITOR or >export EDITOR=vi and that works for crontab -e problem (just shows a number, 4593) - when you get a message like: don't know what terminal, TERM=color: do: >TERM=vt100 >export TERM or >export TERM=vi examples: To send a message from cron as a reminder 10 6 1 * * /bin/mail simison@stanford.edu -s "netdb IP Check()" 2>&1 to send aoutput to email: /opt/tripwire/sbin/tripwire --check | /bin/mail me@superstar.edu -s "Tripwire Check(slappy)" 2>&1 and all these: 47 10 * * * /bin/mailx simison@superstar.edu -s "fetch Check(X)" < /house/dog 2>&1 #45 10 * * * cat /home/admin/dog | /bin/mailx simison@superstar.edu -s "fetch fetch Check()" #50 10 * * * /bin/mailx simison@superstar.edu -s "fetch fetch Check()" 2>&1 #10 6 1 * * /bin/mail simison@superstar.edu -s "fetch Check()" 2>&1 If you wish to disable the email (and not output to a log file) then, at the end of each of the cron job lines you wish to not be notified on, place the command: >/dev/null 2>&1 This essential writes the email out to nowhere (a trash bin of sorts), and thus solves the problem. Your final cron job line will look like this: 45 4 * * * rm /home/{username}/temp/* >/dev/null 2>&1 If you wish to disable the email (and output to a log file) then, at the end of each of the cron job lines you wish to not be notified on, place the command: > {logfile path and name} or >> {logfile path and name} Special Note: One > means replace the current log with a new one, while (two) >> means append the current output to the end of the current log. This essential writes the email out to nowhere (a trash bin of sorts), and thus solves the problem. Your final cron job line will look like this: 45 4 * * * rm /home/{username}/temp/* > /home/{username}/cronlogs/clear_temp_dir.txt >/dev/null 2>&1 5 * * * * /opt/dell/srvadmin/bin/diskhealth2.0.sh 2>&1 To run something every 2 minutes: */2 * * * * /bin/run/this/thing 2>&1 To run every hour: * */1 * * * /bin/run/this/thing 2>&1