crontab(1) BSD General Commands Manual crontab(1)

NAME

 crontab -- maintain crontab files for individual users (V3)

SYNOPSIS

 crontab [-u user] file
 crontab [-u user] { -l | -r | -e }

DESCRIPTION

 The crontab utility is the program used to install, deinstall or list the
 tables used to drive the cron(8)  daemon in Vixie Cron. Each user can
 have their own crontab, and they are not intended to be edited directly.
 (Darwin note: Although cron(8)  and crontab(5)  are officially supported
 under Darwin, their functionality has been absorbed into launchd(8) ,
 which provides a more flexible way of automatically executing commands.
 See launchctl(1)  for more information.)
 If the /usr/lib/cron/cron.allow file exists, then you must be listed
 therein in order to be allowed to use this command. If the
 /usr/lib/cron/cron.allow file does not exist but the
 /usr/lib/cron/cron.deny file does exist, then you must not be listed in
 the /usr/lib/cron/cron.deny file in order to use this command. If nei-
 ther of these files exists, then depending on site-dependent configura-
 tion parameters, only the super user will be allowed to use this command,
 or all users will be able to use this command. The format of these files
 is one username per line, with no leading or trailing whitespace. Lines
 of other formats will be ignored, and so can be used for comments.
 The first form of this command is used to install a new crontab from some
 named file or standard input if the pseudo-filename `-' is given.
 The following options are available:
 -u Specify the name of the user whose crontab is to be tweaked. If
 this option is not given, crontab examines ``your'' crontab,
 i.e., the crontab of the person executing the command. Note that
 su(1)  can confuse crontab and that if you are running inside of
 su(1)  you should always use the -u option for safety's sake.
 -l Display the current crontab on standard output.
 -r Remove the current crontab.
 -e Edit the current crontab using the editor specified by the VISUAL
 or EDITOR environment variables. The specified editor must edit
 the file in place; any editor that unlinks the file and recreates
 it cannot be used. After you exit from the editor, the modified
 crontab will be installed automatically.

FILES

 /usr/lib/cron/cron.allow
 /usr/lib/cron/cron.deny

DIAGNOSTICS

 A fairly informative usage message appears if you run it with a bad com-
 mand line.

SEE ALSO

 crontab(5) , compat(5) , cron(8) , launchctl(1) 

STANDARDS

 The crontab command conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2''). The new
 command syntax differs from previous versions of Vixie Cron, as well as
 from the classic SVR3 syntax.

AUTHORS

 Paul Vixie <paul@vix.com>
BSD December 29, 1993 BSD