Unix 'at' command via PHP to run single function

Question

Is it possible to schedule a single php function to run at a specific time in the future using the Unix 'at' command? If so how would this be done?

Also is this the best way to handle scheduling a single function to run at a later date?

Answer 1

Sure, you can use at or cron, and pass the -R flag to PHP to execute the command line:

# Run phpinfo() at 12:30...
echo php -R 'phpinfo();' | at 12:30

Or it is perhaps better to call a file which may contain multiple commands

echo 'php /path/to/yourfile.php' | at 12:30

Answer 2

if you want to run it from php script try using exec() function

Answer 3

To do that a PHP script would need to be persistent inside the PHP interpreter for some long interval of time.

The best you could do would be to use something like exec to create the unix command you's use and then call the php command line version to make it work. Look at Scheduling php scripts for more information.