at

Schedule commands to execute at a specified time

TLDR

Create commands interactively and execute them in 5 minutes

$ at now + 5 minutes

Execute commands from stdin at a specific time

$ echo "command" | at 1000

Execute commands from a file at a specific time

$ at -f [path/to/file] 9:30 PM Tue

List all queued jobs

$ at -l

View a specified job

$ at -c [job_number]

Remove a job from the queue

$ atrm [job_number]

SYNOPSIS

at [-f file] [-l] [-c job] [-m] [-q queue] time

at executes commands at a specified time. Commands are read from standard input or a file and executed later. Results are sent to the user's mail. The atd daemon must be running for jobs to execute.

PARAMETERS

-f file

Read commands from file instead of standard input

-l

List all queued jobs (alias for atq)

-c job

Print the commands of the specified job

-m

Send mail to the user even if there was no output

-q queue

Use the specified queue (a-z, A-Z)

-d job

Delete a job (alias for atrm)

-v

Show the time the job will be executed

CONFIGURATION

/etc/at.allow

If this file exists, only users listed in it can schedule jobs with at.

/etc/at.deny

Users listed in this file are denied access to at. Ignored if at.allow exists.

CAVEATS

Requires the atd daemon to be running. Time can be specified in various formats: HH:MM, midnight, noon, teatime (4pm), or relative times like "now + 5 minutes".

HISTORY

Part of the traditional Unix job scheduling system. The at command has been available since early Unix systems in the 1970s.

at