PHP script as Cron job

[pphas]

I want to execute a php script regularly, and for that reason I created a cron job through WHM. The file is indeed executed, but it fails to do so correctly. I receive this error:

/home/site/cron.php: line 1: ?php: No such file or directory
/home/site/cron.php: line 3: =: command not found
/home/site/cron.php: line 4: =: command not found

etc.

After searching I find this has to do with the format of the script. I wrote this as if it is made for usage through a browser, but now I read that it should be adapted in order to work as a cron. However, I can not find how to change this. Anyone any ideas?

[troxalias]

Your cron entry for the script should be something like:

0 0 * * * php /home/site/cron.php

which will execute with php the script /home/site/cron.php every day on 00.00 exactly.

[pphas]

Thanks for your reply. However, the cron appears to run just fine. The problem is that when the file is actually executed, I receive an error. It is this error that I do not understand...

[troxalias]

Your problem is that your system does not know how to run /home/site/cron.php . This file is not a binary file, it needs to be interpreted with php (as other need perl, python, etc) so the system HAS to know how to run it.

In theory it would be enough to insert a Shebang line in your script, but this would case error from the php interpreter itself.

[pphas]

Thanks a lot! This was indeed the issue, I added the path to php and it all works fine now...

For whoever battles the same issue: I added

#! /path/to/php

before the script and all is fine now.