Crontab not executing a Python script?

Question

My python script is not running under my crontab.

I have placed this in the python script at the top:

#!/usr/bin/python

I hav

Answer 1

Typically, crontab problems like this are caused by the PATH environment variable being more restrictive/different than what your normal user's PATH environment is. Since your shell uses the PATH environment to find the executable (e.g. /usr/bin/python is found in /usr/bin when you type "python" at a shell prompt), when the PATH is missing common locations, like /usr/bin or /usr/sbin, your cron job will fail. This has bit me many times. The simple fix is just to explicitly set the PATH yourself near the top of your crontab file, before any commands that need it. So, just edit the crontab as usual and add something like this near the top (if your binary is not in one of the below paths, you'll need to add it after a colon):

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin

Alternately, just use absolute paths to your binaries and scripts in crontab.