Question

Output from php script run by cronjob differs from manually executing it

I am getting a different result from a php script when I run it as a cronjob as when I execute it manually. Have tried to look for information but can’t figure out what is happening. Please help!

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Bobby Iliev • June 3, 2020

Hi there @fabriziocastrob6,

It is quite possible that when you run the PHP script via cron it might use a different php.ini file.

I could suggest 2 things:

  • In your crontab make sure to specify the exact path to the php binary, to find out the path run:
  1. which php
  • If the script is in a specific directory, you could add a cd command before the php command in cronjob, so it would look something like this:
cd /path/to/your/directory && /usr/bin/php script.php
  • If this still does not work, try specifying the path to your custom php.ini file if you use one, you can do that by adding the following flag:
php -c /path/to/your/custom/php.ini

Let me know how it goes! Regards, Bobby

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