How to Verify Limited crontab Command Access

To verify if a specific user can access the crontab command, use the crontab -l command while you are logged into the user account.

$ crontab -l

If the user can access the crontab command, and already has created a crontab file, the file is displayed. Otherwise, if the user can access the crontab command but no crontab file exists, a message similar to the following message is displayed:

crontab: can't open your crontab file

Either this user either is listed in the cron.allow file (if the file exists), or the user is not listed in the cron.deny file.

If the user cannot access the crontab command, the following message is displayed whether or not a previous crontab file exists:

crontab: you are not authorized to use cron. Sorry.

This message means that either the user is not listed in the cron.allow file (if the file exists), or the user is listed in the cron.deny file.