Displaying crontab Files

The crontab -l command displays the contents of your crontab file much the way the cat command displays the contents of other types of files. You do not have to change directories to /var/spool/cron/crontabs (where crontab files are located) to use this command.

By default, the crontab -l command displays your own crontab file. To display crontab files that belong to other users, you must be superuser.

How to Display a crontab File

1. (Optional) Become superuser to display a crontab file that belongs to root or another user.

2. Display the crontab file.

   $ crontab -l [username]

   Where username specifies the name of the user's account for which you want to create or edit a crontab file. To create or edit crontab files requires superuser privileges.

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   Caution –

   If you accidentally type the crontab command with no option, press the interrupt character for your editor. This character allows you to quit without saving changes. If you instead saved changes and exited the file, the existing crontab file is overwritten with an empty file.

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Example—Displaying a crontab File

The following example shows how to use the crontab -l command to display the contents of the user's default crontab file, the default root crontab file, and the crontab file belonging to another user.

$ crontab -l
13 13 * * * chmod g+w /home1/documents/*.book > /dev/null 2>&1
$ suPassword:
# crontab -l
#ident  "@(#)root       1.19    98/07/06 SMI"   /* SVr4.0 1.1.3.1       */
#
# The root crontab should be used to perform accounting data collection.
#
# The rtc command is run to adjust the real time clock if and when
# daylight savings time changes.
#
10 3 * * * /usr/sbin/logadm
15 3 * * 0 /usr/lib/fs/nfs/nfsfind
1 2 * * * [ -x /usr/sbin/rtc ] && /usr/sbin/rtc -c > /dev/null 2>&1
30 3 * * * [ -x /usr/lib/gss/gsscred_clean ] && /usr/lib/gss/gsscred_clean
# crontab -l jones
13 13 * * * cp /home/jones/work_files /usr/backup/. > /dev/null 2>&1