[GLLUG] crontabs

[bfdamkoehler at worldnet.att.net]

Todd Torrey wrote:
> I was wondering if directly editing a crontab without using "crontab" is 
> strictly prohibited.
> I want to be able to edit a crontab via a script without any user 
> interaction. Is this o.k.?
> To be more specific about my intentions, I want to serve a web page 
> showing the contents of a crontab and also allow editing the crontab via 
> a web form.
> 
> Thanks,
> Todd
> 
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Sure. If you don't already have the crontab in its own file you get a 
copy into a temp file, edit that and then resubmit it via something like:

     crontab -l >crontab.tmp
     edit crontab.tmp in whatever way you want
     crontab crontab.tmp
     rm crontab.tmp

If you already have the crontab in its own file you can just do this:

     edit your_crontab_file in whatever way you want
     crontab your_crontab_file