Infos on CRONRGF.CMD
====================

CRONRGF.CMD was modelled after the "cron"-utility of Unix. It allows you to 
specify in a control files on which times and dates a command should be executed
repeatedly.

CRONRGF.CMD starts and runs forever, dispatching the commands at the given 
times. 

Please check ATRGF.CMD which was modelled after the OS/2-LAN-command "at" for 
another variant having features not found in CRONRGF.CMD.

Usage
=====

    CRONRGF [/T] [/M] [/R[nn]] [/B] cronfile

    
    Reads file 'cronfile' and executes command[s] repeatedly according to it.
    'cronfile' has to be formatted like in Unix; unlike the Unix-version a '%' is
    treated like any other character; empty lines and ones starting with
    a semi-colon (;) or a (#) are ignored.
   
    Switch '/T[estmode]': the cronfile is read and the user is presented with the date/times
          and commands to be executed upon them. The planned and truly scheduled 
          times are written to the log-file.

    Switch '/M[idnight]': all commands which were scheduled the same day, starting from
          midnight to the time of first invocation are executed once.

    Switch '/R[nn]': check cronfile at least every 'nn' (default 60) minutes whether it changed; if so, reread
          it immediately and set the new schedule-times. If set, the cronfile will be checked for changes after
          executing commands
   
    Switch '/B[lackAndWhite]': do not colorize output strings (e.g. for usage in more, less etc.).
          This switch merely suppresses the ANSI-color-sequences attached to the
          strings.

    example:  CRONRGF /TEST testcron
              execute statements in file 'testcron' in testmode

    example for a control-file:

        ; Sample file for CRONRGF.CMD
        ;
        ; This is a comment (starts with a semicolumn)
        # This is a comment too (starts with the Unix-comment symbol)
        ; empty lines are ignored too...
        
        
        ; LAYOUT OF THE CRON-FILE:
        ;    * * * * * command
        ; or
        ;    minute hour day month weekday command
        ; where minute  ranges from 0-59,
        ;       hour    ranges from 0-23,
        ;       day     ranges from 1-31,
        ;       month   ranges from 1-12,
        ;       weekday ranges from 1-7 (1 = Monday, 2 = Tuesday, ..., 7 = Sunday)
        ;
        ; you can give a list of values, separated by a comma (,), e.g. "1,3,7"
        ; you can give a range of values, separated by a dash (-), e.g. "1-5"
        ; you can give a star (*) instead of a value, meaning entire range of all valid values
        ;
        ; the given command is only executed when all criteriae are fullfilled !
        ;
        ; restriction: unlike to Unix, the percent-sign (%) is treated like any other character and
        ;              not as a new-line
        ;
        
        # the following command "@ECHO HI, I am Nr. 1 to be echoed every minute" would be
        # executed every minute
        *  *  *  *  *  @ECHO Hi, I am Nr. 1 to be echoed every minute & pause
        
        59 23 31 12 5 command, one minute before year's end, and only if the last day is a Friday
        
        ; comment: every year at 17:45 on June 7th:
        45 17  7  6  *  dir c:\*.exe
        
        ; comment: on every full quarter of an hour 
        ;          at midnight, 6 in the morning, noon, 6 in the evening
        ;          on the 1st, 15th and 31st of 
        ;          every month on
        0,15,30,45   0,6,12,18   1,15,31   *   *   backup c:\*.* d:\ /s
        
        ; at noon on every day, if it is a weekday (Mo-Fri):
        0 12 * * 1-5 XCOPY Q:\* D:\ /s
        
        ; every minute in January, March, May, July, September and November:
        *  *  *  1,3,5,7,9,11  *  dir c:\*.cmd
        
        # at the last day of the year at 23:01, 23:02, 23:03, 23:05, 23:20, 23:21,
        # 23:22, 23:23, 23:24, 23:25, 23:30, 23:31, 23:32, 23:33, 23:34, 23:35,
        # 23:59
        1,2,3,5,20-25,30-35,59   23   31   12   *   COPY D:\*.log E:\backup
        
        ; make backups of OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI on every first monday of a month,
        ; at 9 o'clock in the morning
        0 9 1-7 * 1 showini /bt d:\os2\os2.ini
        0 9 1-7 * 1 showini /bt d:\os2\os2sys.ini
        
        ; at midnight on every month:
        0 0 1 * * tapebackup /all
        
        ; execute every minute, no restrictions:
        *  *  *  *  *  @ECHO Hi, I am Nr. 2 to be echoed every minute & pause
        
        # execute every minute in January, February, March only !
        * *  *  1,2,3  *  any-command any-arguments
        
        # execute every day at midnight
        0 0 * * * any-command any-arguments
        
        # execute every wednesday at midnigth !
        0 0 * * 3 any-command any-arguments
        
        # this is a comment which concludes the sample file ===========================


Rony G. Flatscher,
Vienna/Austria/Europe,
Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien
1992-11-08