How to run an R script in crontab

Question

Using crontab -e I\'ve tried:

* * * * *  Rscript /home/.../file.r
* * * * * /usr/lib/R/bin/Rscript /home/.../file.r
* * * * * /usr/bin/Rscript /home/.../file         


        

Answer 1

For what it is worth here is CRANberries entry which has worked (multiple times) every day for 5+ years:

# every few hours, run cranberries
11 */2 * * *    edd     ~/cranberries/cranberries.r

Of note here are

1. The time specification, here 11 mins past the hour every two hours
2. The user
3. The complete path, using 'globbing' to expand ~ to $HOME for edd

and after that you just have to make sure the script is actually executable. Whether you use Rscript, littler or R BATCH CMD does not matter.