4.3BSD-Reno/share/man/cat1/at.0
AT(1) UNIX Reference Manual AT(1)
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aatt - schedule execution of commands `at' a given time
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aatt [--cc] [--ss] [--mm] _t_i_m_e [_d_a_y] [_c_o_m_m_a_n_d__f_i_l_e]
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AAtt schedules execution of commands at the specified _t_i_m_e. The commands
may be given to aatt via the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d__f_i_l_e or accepted from the standard in-
put. AAtt will pass these commands to the appropriate shell at the re-
quested time. While awaiting execution, the jobs reside in a spool direc-
tory and may be examined by the atq(1) program.
Options available:
--cc _C_o_m_m_a_n_d__f_i_l_e contains csh(1) commands.
--ss _C_o_m_m_a_n_d__f_i_l_e contains sh(1) commands.
--mm Mail will be sent to the user after the job has been run. If
errors occur during execution of the job, then a copy of the
error diagnostics will be sent to the user. If no errors occur,
then a short message is sent informing the user that no errors
occurred.
If a _c_o_m_m_a_n_d__f_i_l_e is not specified, aatt prompts for commands from standard
input until a `^D' is typed.
The format of the spool file is as follows: A four line header that
includes the owner of the job, the name of the job, the shell used to run
the job, and whether mail will be sent after the job is executed. The
header is followed by a ccdd command to the current directory and a uummaasskk
command to set the modes on any files created by the job. Then aatt copies
all relevant environment variables to the spool file. When the script is
run, it uses the user and group ID of the creator of the spool file.
The _t_i_m_e is either a 24 hour military time _h_h_m_m, where _h_h is hour and _m_m
is minutes, or the traditional 12 hour time with qualifying options:
am, a am
pm, p pm
n noon
m midnight
The time can be abbreviated as shown below in EXAMPLES.
A _d_a_y of the week may be specified by the first two letters of its name.
A week (7 days) may be specified by the argument _w_e_e_k. If a month name
is given, the following argument is expected to be the day (numeric).
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If a shell is not specified, the current environment variable SHELL is
used.
EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS
at 10p Execute at 10pm today, or tomorrow if 10pm has past. Use the
shell found in the environment variable SHELL.
at -c -m 1705 mo
Execute at 5:05pm on Monday using csh(1) and send mail upon
completion or termination of the job.
at -s -m 1200n week
Use sh(1), send mail upon completetion, start at noon
o'clock, one week from today.
at -s 8a apr 1
Ideally this would be given late in March. The commands
would be run at 8 am on April first, using the sh(1).
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Errors must be collected via the --mm option or by redirecting the standard
output from inside the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d__f_i_l_e.
FFIILLEESS
/_v_a_r/_s_p_o_o_l/_a_t spooling area
/_v_a_r/_s_p_o_o_l/_a_t/_y_y._d_d_d._h_h_h_h.* job file
/_v_a_r/_s_p_o_o_l/_a_t/_p_a_s_t directory where jobs are executed from
/_v_a_r/_s_p_o_o_l/_a_t/_l_a_s_t_t_i_m_e_d_o_n_e last time atrun was run
/_v_a_r/_l_i_b_e_x_e_c/_a_t_r_u_n executor (run by cron(8))
SSEEEE AALLSSOO
atq(1), atrm(1), calendar(1), cron(8) sleep(1),
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Complains about various syntax errors and times out of range.
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AAtt appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
BBUUGGSS
The queueing mechanism /_u_s_r/_l_i_b_e_x_e_c/_a_t_r_u_n, is scheduled by cron(8). Fre-
quency with which cron(8) runs /_u_s_r/_l_i_b_e_x_e_c/_a_t_r_u_n is site dependent. If
it is run infrequently, a job may fall thru the cracks.
There are known problems attempting to specify a time of 2400 hours to
aatt.
If the system crashes, mail is not sent to the user informing them that
the job was not completed.
Sometimes old spool files are not removed from the directory
/_v_a_r/_s_p_o_o_l/_a_t/_p_a_s_t. This is usually due to a system crash, and requires
that they be removed by hand.