I have the following code in a text file (myfile.applescript):
#! /usr/bin/osascript
tell application "Google Chrome" to quit
I would like Chrome to shut down each night at 9:15PM, so I added the following cron task to crontab:
15 21 * * * ~/Desktop/myfile.applescript
Unfortunately, the script is not triggering. Any thoughts?
NOTE: I am aware I can use iCal to resolve this problem. However, I'd prefer to not clutter my calendar with a daily script-triggering event.
Make sure the ~/Desktop/myfile.applescript file is executable. You can only call a script by filename if it has the relevant execute bit.
Consider the following Terminal session:
$ ls -laFh sh.sh
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jason staff 278B Mar 2 10:18 sh.sh
$ ./sh.sh
-bash: ./sh.sh: Permission denied
$ chmod 764 sh.sh
$ ls -laFh sh.sh
-rwxrw-r-- 1 jason staff 32B Mar 7 09:40 sh.sh*
$ ./sh.sh
Hello World!
Until I had execute permissions (denoted with an 'x' in either the 4th, 7th, or 10th slot of the permissions string), I could not run it.
You can override it by calling the file with it's particular interpreter:
$ chmod 664 sh.sh
$ ls -laFh sh.sh
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jason staff 32B Mar 7 09:40 sh.sh
$ ./sh.sh
-bash: ./sh.sh: Permission denied
$ sh sh.sh
Hello World!
Cron has be deprecated on modern versions of OS X. Apple's suggestion is to use launchd instead. You will find Lingon to be a useful tool for creating launchd daemons.
If you would prefer to use iCal to launch the script, you can create a separate calendar for scripted event(s), and hide it from view. It will function, but your calendar view will not be cluttered.
I discovered my original script worked. The problem had to do with my cron entry: it wasn't terminated with a carriage return. Once I did that, the applescript triggered properly.
Try the following in your script.
#!/usr/bin/bash
/usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to quit'
Make sure it's chmod +x and test from CLI.
