Running script with cron doesn't work on mac

Question

I keep trying to run a cron job that executes a python script every minute. Having executed "which python", I set up the cron job as follows:

SHELL=/bin/bash
MAILTO=MyMac

PATH=bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin

*/1 * * * * * /Users/MyMac/anaconda3/bin/python
/Users/MyMac/desktop/cron_test/test.py

Job's description is in one line and there is a new line character at the end of the definition.

I get the following error in /var/mail/MyMac :

/bin/bash: AnacondaProjects: command not found

So I deleted:

SHELL=/bin/bash

and I got:

/bin/sh: MyMac: command not found

Then I tried all possible combinations of /usr/bin/python with or without lib, anaconda etc., with or without specifying PATH, SHELL, MAIL. Unfortunately, without success.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit

So here's the summary of what I did according to the pieces of advice I received:

I tried:

* * * * * env > /tmp/env.output, 

first I got an error:

/bin/bash: /tmp/env.output: Permission denied, 

so I made a cron Job as sudo. The path in the env.output is:

PATH= bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/Users/MyMac/AnacondaProjects

Finally I set my cronjob (as a normal user not as sudo) to:

SHELL=/bin/bash
MAILTO=my_address@mail.com
PATH=bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/Users/MyMac/AnacondaProjects:/Users/MyMac/anaconda3/bin/python:/usr/bin/env

 * * * * * /Users/MyMac/anaconda3/bin/python /Users/MyMac/desktop/cron_test/test.py

It still doesn't work. The python code is:

#!/usr/bin/env python
def main():
    f = open("test.txt", "w+")
    f.write("HELLO" + '\n')
    f.close()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("Print")
    main()

I'm looking forward forward to get and try out new approaches.

Answer 1

Try doing this:

1. Open preferences and go to “Security & Privacy” -> “Privacy”
2. Scroll down to “Full Disk Access” on the left side and select it.
3. Hit the unlock icon and enter your password
4. Hit the “+” sign to add an application
5. Type “command+shift+G” to bring up the got to file dialog box (don't seem able to navigate the /usr directory)
6. Enter the full path name to the application (/usr/sbin/cron) and click on “Go”
7. Click “Open” It should show up in the list with a check mark next to it. I tried it with a simple csh script in cron and it worked. (Credit to my source: https://blog.bejarano.io/fixing-cron-jobs-in-mojave )

Answer 2

Try doing the following:

• In your python's script first line put: #!/Users/MyMac/anaconda3/bin/python
• Make sure your script is executable: chmod +x /Users/MyMac/desktop/cron_test/test.py
• Change the cron recipe to: * * * * * * /Users/MyMac/desktop/cron_test/test.py which is a form of telling cron to execute the job every minute

Answer 3

Try to make cron record like this:

* * * * * /Users/MyMac/anaconda3/bin/python /Users/MyMac/desktop/cron_test/test.py

This will run it every minute

And on MAILTO cron expect email address, not some name

Answer 4

All existing answers to this question (while helpful general cron suggestions) are wrong.

OP error is a cron with six time entries, not five:

*/1 * * * * * /Users/MyMac/anaconda3/bin/python

Therefore cron reads the first five entries as time instructions and the sixth * as a terminal instruction (a wildcard that expands to a list of files/directories in the current directory), and then tries the first string in that list as a command and gives an error.

This will typically give errors like:

/bin/bash: Applications: command not found
/bin/bash: AnacondaProjects: command not found
/bin/zh: Applications: command not found
etc...