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An Ignorant Wanderer
Asked: 2020-10-01 06:01:15 +0800 CST

Schedule shutdown every day on Ubuntu 20.04

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I'd like to schedule a shutdown every day at a specific time for my system. I found this post that addresses this, but I can't find rc.local I looked around and it seems like this file doesn't exist on Ubuntu 20.04 I was wondering what the best way to solve this problem is? Should I create this file or is there a file that "substitutes" it?

PS: currently the answers to my question mention cron. However, I found the accepted answer to this post that recommends not using cron for shutdown. I was wondering if someone could elaborate on this option too and why it is not / or is a good option

shutdown

2 Answers

  1. With a quick search, I hopefully found the answer you're looking for

    Automatic shutdown at specified times?

    " Cron will work very well for this.

    Add the below line (with tweaks) to the end of /etc/crontab:

    30 23 * * * root shutdown -h now "

    From: Automatic shutdown at specified times?

    Reply if it worked! Good luck!

    To run sample.sh twice a day. say 5am and 5pm

    0 5,17 * * * shutdown.sh

    where shutdown.sh has the contents

    shutdown

    • Or, if you want another way:
    # .---------------- minute (0 - 59)
# | .------------- hour (0 - 23)
# | | .---------- day of month (1 - 31)
# | | | .------- month (1 - 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr ...
# | | | | .---- day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0 or 7) OR sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
# | | | | |
# * * * * * user-name command to be executed
  0 0 * * 0 root      /sbin/shutdown -h now # power off every sunday at 00:00 am

    Or, alternativly you can use:

    sudo crontab -e

    and enter 0 0 * * 0 root /sbin/shutdown -r now

    For example

    References:

    https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/208205/how-to-schedule-shutdown-every-day

    https://www.unix.com/red-hat/173983-cronjob-command-shutdown.html

    https://www.tutorialspoint.com/unix_commands/crontab.htm

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CronHowto

    https://www.ryadel.com/en/linux-auto-reboot-shutdown-cron-job-crontab-task-scheduler/

    https://linuxize.com/post/cron-jobs-every-5-10-15-minutes/

    shutdown 5:30pm every day

    recurring scheduled shutdown

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    1. In Ubuntu 20.04 you can execute crontab -e, then enter your command at the bottom of the text lines.
      • use cron command syntax, it can be viewed at man cron.
    2. You can use the "Crontab Generator" on this url https://crontab-generator.org/ to calculate your command parameters.
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