Using cron

cron is a powerful feature in Unix-like operating systems that allows users to schedule tasks (called cron jobs) to run automatically at specific times or on specific days. As a data scientist, you might use cron to automate tasks such as retrieving data, cleaning data, or running scripts at regular intervals.

The crontab (cron table) command allows you to create, edit, manage, and remove cron jobs. Here’s an example of how you might use the crontab command to view your current cron jobs:

crontab -l

The -l option tells crontab to list the current user’s cron jobs.

To edit your cron jobs, you would use the -e option:

crontab -e

This command opens the current user’s crontab file in the default text editor. If no crontab file exists for the user, this command creates one.

A cron job is defined by a line in the crontab file, which consists of six fields:

*     *     *   ...