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Recover cron jobs accidently removed with crontab -r

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62

8

I entered crontab -r instead of crontab -e and all my cron jobs have been removed.

What is the best way (or is there one) to recover those jobs?

linux cron

share|improve this question

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  28
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Is it just me or wouldn't it make more sense for crontab -r to ask yes/no by default??
  
  – user1446688
  Feb 16 '15 at 22:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I think having a yes/no prompt would be a great idea. especially since e & r are right next to each other.. and crontab -e is a really common cron command.
  
  – JustinP
  May 11 '15 at 15:52
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  In 7 or so years of admin work I have never had this happen to me. Now I am scared. Time to start backing up the crontabs regularly.
  
  – Caja
  Jun 23 '15 at 13:35
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  6
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This has happened to me twice already. It's the worst idea ever to have e for edit and r for remove with absolutely no prompt whatsoever!!
  
  – DaniG2k
  Sep 7 '15 at 14:17
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  9
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  First thing to do, alias crontab=crontab -i. But crontab should have made that default, given that e & r are next to each other...
  
  – anishsane
  Dec 8 '15 at 6:57
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 7 more comments

62

8

I entered crontab -r instead of crontab -e and all my cron jobs have been removed.

What is the best way (or is there one) to recover those jobs?

linux cron

share|improve this question

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  28
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Is it just me or wouldn't it make more sense for crontab -r to ask yes/no by default??
  
  – user1446688
  Feb 16 '15 at 22:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I think having a yes/no prompt would be a great idea. especially since e & r are right next to each other.. and crontab -e is a really common cron command.
  
  – JustinP
  May 11 '15 at 15:52
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  3
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  In 7 or so years of admin work I have never had this happen to me. Now I am scared. Time to start backing up the crontabs regularly.
  
  – Caja
  Jun 23 '15 at 13:35
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  6
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This has happened to me twice already. It's the worst idea ever to have e for edit and r for remove with absolutely no prompt whatsoever!!
  
  – DaniG2k
  Sep 7 '15 at 14:17
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  9
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  First thing to do, alias crontab=crontab -i. But crontab should have made that default, given that e & r are next to each other...
  
  – anishsane
  Dec 8 '15 at 6:57
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 7 more comments

I entered crontab -r instead of crontab -e and all my cron jobs have been removed.

What is the best way (or is there one) to recover those jobs?

linux cron

share|improve this question

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

share|improve this question

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

share|improve this question

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

edited Jun 10 '14 at 7:18

SkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

asked Jun 10 '14 at 7:12

Teerath KumarTeerath Kumar

41511 gold badge44 silver badges88 bronze badges

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

45

crontab -r removes the only file containing the cron jobs.

So if you did not make a backup, your only recovery options are:

• On RedHat/CentOS, if your jobs have been triggered before, you can find the cron log in /var/log/cron. The file will help you rewrite the jobs again.


• Another option is to recover the file using a file recovery tool. This is less likely to be successful though, since the system partition is usually a busy one and corresponding sectors probably have already been overwritten.


• On Ubuntu/Debian, if your task has run before, try grep CRON /var/log/syslog
  

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I could not voted you up but this answer was some how useful for me. thankx
  
  – Teerath Kumar
  Jun 10 '14 at 8:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @RajaRassani You can mark the answer is a correct one with a tick mark, though. Thanks for feed back!
  
  – SkyDan
  Jun 10 '14 at 8:31
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  this just happened to me :) total bummer.. I do use virtual servers and backup them up regularly..so I'm going to spin up a backup.. and get the deleted crontabs
  
  – JustinP
  May 11 '15 at 15:49
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  +1 for being straightforward :}
  
  – namezero
  Apr 13 '18 at 17:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You can try your luck looking for a backup made by the editor in /tmp/crontab.wpMhKS (of course the name may change). It may not be the most recent version but in my case it helped a lot
  
  – Jong Bor
  Aug 3 '18 at 14:11
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

20

If you have no /var/log/cron file you can recover the commands (but not the timings) from the syslog.

grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog

you can then figure out most timings by looking at the datestamps.

share|improve this answer

edited Dec 16 '16 at 5:41

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  On ubuntu the file is /var/log/syslog.
  
  – Aurelijus Rozenas
  Nov 29 '16 at 13:02
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @ Aurelijus Rozenas I accidentally added sys to the directory path it should be /var/log/syslog, I corrected my post.
  
  – Meow
  Nov 29 '16 at 17:32
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog
  
  – aidan
  Dec 15 '16 at 22:52
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Aidin you are my savior! Note to self: Never edit the crontab file while server space is full.
  
  – Shadoath
  Feb 6 '17 at 17:55
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Phew that was close! I've now added a cron to backup my crontab everyday :)
  
  – SidJ
  Jul 5 at 6:20
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

-5

vi /var/spool/cron/*user* or if you're the root user then vi /var/spool/cron/root

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is worse. It edits the spool files without notifying cron that the file has been edited. It also won't work when the user has accidentally deleted their crontab because there is no file to edit.
  
  – roaima
  Jun 23 '15 at 13:06
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Upvote from me for actually stating the location of the crontab. I had an entire system backup and could easily retrieve my cronjobs. Thanks!
  
  – Cookie
  Dec 18 '15 at 14:24
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

protected by Michael Mrozek♦ Jun 23 '15 at 16:36

Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).



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45

crontab -r removes the only file containing the cron jobs.

So if you did not make a backup, your only recovery options are:

• On RedHat/CentOS, if your jobs have been triggered before, you can find the cron log in /var/log/cron. The file will help you rewrite the jobs again.


• Another option is to recover the file using a file recovery tool. This is less likely to be successful though, since the system partition is usually a busy one and corresponding sectors probably have already been overwritten.


• On Ubuntu/Debian, if your task has run before, try grep CRON /var/log/syslog
  

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I could not voted you up but this answer was some how useful for me. thankx
  
  – Teerath Kumar
  Jun 10 '14 at 8:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @RajaRassani You can mark the answer is a correct one with a tick mark, though. Thanks for feed back!
  
  – SkyDan
  Jun 10 '14 at 8:31
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  this just happened to me :) total bummer.. I do use virtual servers and backup them up regularly..so I'm going to spin up a backup.. and get the deleted crontabs
  
  – JustinP
  May 11 '15 at 15:49
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  +1 for being straightforward :}
  
  – namezero
  Apr 13 '18 at 17:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You can try your luck looking for a backup made by the editor in /tmp/crontab.wpMhKS (of course the name may change). It may not be the most recent version but in my case it helped a lot
  
  – Jong Bor
  Aug 3 '18 at 14:11
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

45

crontab -r removes the only file containing the cron jobs.

So if you did not make a backup, your only recovery options are:

• On RedHat/CentOS, if your jobs have been triggered before, you can find the cron log in /var/log/cron. The file will help you rewrite the jobs again.


• Another option is to recover the file using a file recovery tool. This is less likely to be successful though, since the system partition is usually a busy one and corresponding sectors probably have already been overwritten.


• On Ubuntu/Debian, if your task has run before, try grep CRON /var/log/syslog
  

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I could not voted you up but this answer was some how useful for me. thankx
  
  – Teerath Kumar
  Jun 10 '14 at 8:24
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @RajaRassani You can mark the answer is a correct one with a tick mark, though. Thanks for feed back!
  
  – SkyDan
  Jun 10 '14 at 8:31
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  this just happened to me :) total bummer.. I do use virtual servers and backup them up regularly..so I'm going to spin up a backup.. and get the deleted crontabs
  
  – JustinP
  May 11 '15 at 15:49
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  +1 for being straightforward :}
  
  – namezero
  Apr 13 '18 at 17:54
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You can try your luck looking for a backup made by the editor in /tmp/crontab.wpMhKS (of course the name may change). It may not be the most recent version but in my case it helped a lot
  
  – Jong Bor
  Aug 3 '18 at 14:11
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

crontab -r removes the only file containing the cron jobs.

So if you did not make a backup, your only recovery options are:

• On RedHat/CentOS, if your jobs have been triggered before, you can find the cron log in /var/log/cron. The file will help you rewrite the jobs again.


• Another option is to recover the file using a file recovery tool. This is less likely to be successful though, since the system partition is usually a busy one and corresponding sectors probably have already been overwritten.


• On Ubuntu/Debian, if your task has run before, try grep CRON /var/log/syslog
  

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

edited 1 hour ago

jarhill0

10322 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

answered Jun 10 '14 at 7:20

SkyDanSkyDan

1,63711 gold badge1313 silver badges1818 bronze badges

20

If you have no /var/log/cron file you can recover the commands (but not the timings) from the syslog.

grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog

you can then figure out most timings by looking at the datestamps.

share|improve this answer

edited Dec 16 '16 at 5:41

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  On ubuntu the file is /var/log/syslog.
  
  – Aurelijus Rozenas
  Nov 29 '16 at 13:02
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @ Aurelijus Rozenas I accidentally added sys to the directory path it should be /var/log/syslog, I corrected my post.
  
  – Meow
  Nov 29 '16 at 17:32
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog
  
  – aidan
  Dec 15 '16 at 22:52
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Aidin you are my savior! Note to self: Never edit the crontab file while server space is full.
  
  – Shadoath
  Feb 6 '17 at 17:55
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Phew that was close! I've now added a cron to backup my crontab everyday :)
  
  – SidJ
  Jul 5 at 6:20
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

20

If you have no /var/log/cron file you can recover the commands (but not the timings) from the syslog.

grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog

you can then figure out most timings by looking at the datestamps.

share|improve this answer

edited Dec 16 '16 at 5:41

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  On ubuntu the file is /var/log/syslog.
  
  – Aurelijus Rozenas
  Nov 29 '16 at 13:02
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @ Aurelijus Rozenas I accidentally added sys to the directory path it should be /var/log/syslog, I corrected my post.
  
  – Meow
  Nov 29 '16 at 17:32
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog
  
  – aidan
  Dec 15 '16 at 22:52
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @Aidin you are my savior! Note to self: Never edit the crontab file while server space is full.
  
  – Shadoath
  Feb 6 '17 at 17:55
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Phew that was close! I've now added a cron to backup my crontab everyday :)
  
  – SidJ
  Jul 5 at 6:20
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

If you have no /var/log/cron file you can recover the commands (but not the timings) from the syslog.

grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog

you can then figure out most timings by looking at the datestamps.

share|improve this answer

edited Dec 16 '16 at 5:41

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

grep 'CRON.*(yourusername)' /var/log/syslog

share|improve this answer

edited Dec 16 '16 at 5:41

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

answered Dec 4 '15 at 21:24

MeowMeow

34122 silver badges77 bronze badges

-5

vi /var/spool/cron/*user* or if you're the root user then vi /var/spool/cron/root

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is worse. It edits the spool files without notifying cron that the file has been edited. It also won't work when the user has accidentally deleted their crontab because there is no file to edit.
  
  – roaima
  Jun 23 '15 at 13:06
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Upvote from me for actually stating the location of the crontab. I had an entire system backup and could easily retrieve my cronjobs. Thanks!
  
  – Cookie
  Dec 18 '15 at 14:24
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

-5

vi /var/spool/cron/*user* or if you're the root user then vi /var/spool/cron/root

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is worse. It edits the spool files without notifying cron that the file has been edited. It also won't work when the user has accidentally deleted their crontab because there is no file to edit.
  
  – roaima
  Jun 23 '15 at 13:06
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Upvote from me for actually stating the location of the crontab. I had an entire system backup and could easily retrieve my cronjobs. Thanks!
  
  – Cookie
  Dec 18 '15 at 14:24
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

vi /var/spool/cron/*user* or if you're the root user then vi /var/spool/cron/root

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9

share|improve this answer

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

edited Jun 23 '15 at 13:06

roaima

48.7k77 gold badges6363 silver badges131131 bronze badges

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9

answered Jun 23 '15 at 12:39

user120610user120610

9