crontab for osx

[estrellas]

hi guys -
i'm pretty new to mac systems (usually a windows person with some experience in redhat 9.0/7.2) ..

so i'm trying to install a crontab for my system and i was wondering the syntax and stuff of it .. is it the same as it is in linux or is it different? does stuff have to be in certain directories in order for it to work?

because what i have running right now is this...

[email protected]
*/60 * * * *  ( $PATH/backup.sh -n $PATH/bkup.txt) > /dev/null;
*/2 * * * 6     ( $PATH/backup.sh -f $PATH/bkup.txt) > /dev/null;

backup.sh is to backup files from some of my stuff. ..and backup.txt tells the system what files. now i know that this script does work on linux because that's where i wrote it .. and i *think* i should be getting emails every minute telling me that the files are backed up and stuff, but nothing is showing up in my little window.

that's my other question in general too ...
does osx have the same commands as linux? or are they different?

i think that's all for now .. thanks for reading this

 

[rman]

You should be able to look at the man listing on the crontab command. It should give you the syntax.

 

[witeshark]

In OS X crons can be manually run in the finder > applications > utilities > terminal: type sudo sh /etc/daily and run weekly - monthly as needed

 

[ApplejustWorks]

or you can spend 9$ and just get Macaroni from versiontracker and never have to worry about maintaining your mac ever again!

 

[Murlyn]

I use CronniX to create crontabs and to edit them etc etc. All the same commands should be available to you.. i guess it depends on the flavor that you were using and what shell you were using and what command you are talking about

Remember to set your file to be executable.. otherwise it will not go anywhere

 

[MoltenLava]

estellas, your understanding is correct. crontab syntax is universal.