at(1) General Commands Manual at(1)
NAME
at, batch - Runs commands at a later time
SYNOPSIS
at [-c | -s | -k] [-m] [-f file] [-q queuename] time [date] [+increment] [command | file]...
at [-c | -s | -k] [-m] [-f file] [-q queuename] -t [[cc]yy] MMddhhmm [.ss]
at -l -o [-q queuename] [user...]
at -l [job_number]
at -r [-Fi] job_number... | [-u user]
at -n [user]
batch
The at and batch commands read from standard input or accept as arguments the names of commands to be run at a later time. The at command
lets you specify when the commands are to be run. The batch command runs jobs when the system load level permits.
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
at: XCU5.0
batch: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.
OPTIONS
[Tru64 UNIX] Requests that csh be used for executing this job. Specifies the name of the file to use instead of stdin. The specified
file contains the list of commands to be executed. [Tru64 UNIX] Suppresses delete verification. [Tru64 UNIX] Specifies interactive
delete. [Tru64 UNIX] Requests that ksh be used for executing this job. Reports your scheduled jobs.
[Tru64 UNIX] If the root user issues the command with this option, all of the queued at commands are listed with the name of the
user who issued each one. The root user can also request a report of scheduled jobs for the specified user only. Mails a message
about the successful execution of the command. Standard output and standard error are also mailed if they are generated and are not
redirected. This is the default for standard output and standard error. Without the -m option, there is no notification of job
completion, and no mail if standard output and standard error were not generated. [Tru64 UNIX] Requests the number of files in the
queue for the current user. The root user can specify a different user with the user argument. [Tru64 UNIX] Lists jobs in sched-
uled order. This option is useful only when used with the -l option. Specifies the queue you want to use. When used with the -l
option, limits the search to the specified queue.
Values for queuename are limited to the lower case letters a through z. By default, at jobs are scheduled in queue a and batch jobs
are scheduled in queue b. Since queue c is reserved for cron jobs, it can not be used with the -q option. Removes a job previously
scheduled by at or batch, where job_number is the number assigned by at or batch. If you do not have root user authority, you can
remove only your own jobs. The atrm command is available to the root user to remove jobs issued by other users or all jobs issued
by a specific user. This option can be used in combination with the -i, -f, and -u options. [Tru64 UNIX] Requests that the Bourne
shell be used for executing this job (default). [Tru64 UNIX] Submits the job to be run at the specified time. (See the SYNOPSIS
section for the correct time format.) Deletes all jobs for the specified user. This option must be used with the -r option as fol-
lows: at -r -u user
OPERANDS
[Tru64 UNIX] The operands associated with the at command specify the time at which the job should be run. They are described in the sec-
tion Specifying a Time and Date.
DESCRIPTION
Both at and batch mail you the standard output and standard error from the scheduled commands, unless you redirect that output. They also
write the job number and the scheduled time to standard error.
If a filename specified on an at command line is executable (that is, has the x permission for the user in question), at assumes that it is
a command and the job consists of this command only. If the file is not executable, at assumes that you want its contents to be the
instructions for the job (same as BSD at).
[Tru64 UNIX] If at cannot find the file at all, the specification is passed to the date parser. If the specification is not recognized by
the date parser, the user receives the error Unknown word.
[Tru64 UNIX] The at command defaults to the Bourne shell. Use the -c option to specify the C shell, or the -k option to specify the Korn
shell. Variables in the shell environment, the current directory, umask, and ulimit are retained when the commands run. The value of SHELL
is set to be consistent with the shell actually used. Open file descriptors, traps, and priority are lost.
You can use at if your login name appears in the /usr/lib/cron/at.allow file, if that file exists, or if there is no at.allow file and your
name is not in the /usr/lib/cron/at.deny file. The at.allow and at.deny files contain one user name per line. Note that /usr/lib/cron is
symbolically linked to /var/adm/cron.
If neither the at.allow nor the at.deny file exists, only someone with root user authority can submit a job.
To allow global access to at, the system administrator can remove the at.allow file and create a zero-length at.deny file.
Specifying a Time and Date
You must specify a time argument with these commands. You can specify optionally the date argument. These arguments are affected when the
DATEMSK environment variable is set. The next subsection describes the effect of this environment variable.
The required time argument can be one of the following: A number followed by an optional suffix. The at command interprets 1- and 2-digit
numbers as hours. It interprets 4 digits as hours and minutes. The LC_TIME environment variable specifies the order of hours and minutes.
The default order is the hour followed by the minute. You can also separate hours and minutes with a : (colon). The default order is
hour:minute. In addition, you can specify a suffix of am, pm, or zulu. If you do not specify am or pm, at uses a 24-hour clock. The suf-
fix zulu indicates that the time is UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). The at command also recognizes the following keywords as special
times: noon, midnight, now, A for a.m., P for p.m., N for noon, and M for midnight. The time argument specifies a time in the future. For
example, if the current time is 9:02 p.m., and you specify a time of 9P, the command is executed at 9 p.m. the next day. However, if the
current time is 8:58 p.m. and you specify 9P, the command is executed in two minutes. The LC_TIME environment variable controls the key-
words that at recognizes. Keywords are defined on a locale basis.
You can specify the date argument as either a month name and a day number (and possibly a year number preceded by a comma), or a day of the
week. The LC_TIME environment variable specifies the order of the month name and day number (by default, month followed by day). The at
command recognizes two special days, today and tomorrow by default. The special day today is the default date if the specified time is
later than the current hour; the special day tomorrow is the default if the time is earlier than the current hour. If the specified month
is less than the current month (and a year is not given), next year is the default year.
The optional increment can be one of the following: A + (plus sign) followed by a number and one of the following words: minute[s],
hour[s], day[s], week[s], month[s], year[s] (or their locale specific equivalents). The special word next followed by one of the following
words: minute[s], hour[s], day[s], week[s], month[s], year[s] (or their local specific equivalents).
Job numbers are specified as follows: user.xxxxxxxxx.y
[Tru64 UNIX] The user argument identifies the user who scheduled the job; xxxxxxxxx is a 9-digit number (encoded time for the job); and y
indicates the job type or queue name as follows:
Argument Job Type
a at job
b batch job
e ksh job
f csh job
Setting the DATEMSK Environment Variable
[Tru64 UNIX] If the DATEMSK environment variable is set, it points to a template file that the at command uses to determine the valid time
and date arguments instead of the values described in the previous section. Specifically, noon, midnight, now, next, today, tomorrow, and
increment are not recognized when the DATEMSK environment variable is set.
[Tru64 UNIX] The entries in the template file used by the DATEMSK environment variable provide an expansive set of date formats available
in different languages depending on the setting of the environment variable LANG or LC_TIME. The setlocale(3) reference page contains the
list of field descriptors allowed in the template file. This list is a sublist of the field descriptors supported by the calendar command
which are listed on the date(1) reference page.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned: The at command successfully submitted, removed, or listed all specified jobs. An error occurred.
EXAMPLES
To schedule a command from a terminal, enter a command similar to one of the following: at 5 pm Friday uuclean at now next week uuclean at
now + 2 days uuclean
The preceding commands can be scheduled as shown only if uuclean is in the current directory. To run uuclean at 3:00 in the after-
noon on January 24, enter any one of the following commands: echo uuclean | at 3:00 pm January 24 echo uuclean | at 3pm
Jan 24 echo uuclean | at 1500 jan 24 To list the jobs you have sent to be run later, enter: at -l To cancel jobs, enter: at
-r julie.586748399.a
This cancels job julie.586748399. Use at -l to list the job numbers assigned to your jobs. To execute a command when the system
load level permits, enter: batch nroff infile > outfile <Ctrl-d>
where <Ctrl-d> is the End-of-File character. Assume a template file, /var/tmp/AT.TEMPL, contains the following:
%I %p, the %est of %B of the %Y run the following job %I %p, the %end of %B of the %Y run the following job %I %p, the %erd of %B of
the %Y run the following job %I %p, the %eth of %B of the %Y run the following job %d/%m/%y %H:%M:%S %I:%M%p
To invoke the at command when the DATEMSK environment variable is set to /var/tmp/AT.TEMPL, and the template file any of the follow-
ing are valid: at 2 pm, the 3rd of July of the year 2000 run the following job at 3/4/99 at 10:30:30 at 2:30pm
FILES
Main cron directory List of allowed users List of denied users Spool area History information for cron Queue description file for at,
batch, and cron
SEE ALSO
Commands: atq(1), atrm(1), calendar(1), csh(1), cron(8), date(1), kill(1), mail(1), binmail(1), ksh(1), mailx(1), Mail(1), nice(1), ps(1),
Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p)
Functions: setlocale(3)
Standards: standards(5)
Files: queuedefs(4)
System Administration
Network Administration
Command and Shell User's Guide
at(1)