1BATCH(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual BATCH(1P)
2
6 This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
7 implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
8 Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
9 not be implemented on Linux.
10
12 batch - schedule commands to be executed in a batch queue
13
15 batch
16
18 The batch utility shall read commands from standard input and schedule
19 them for execution in a batch queue. It shall be the equivalent of the
20 command:
21 at -q b -m now
24 where queue b is a special at queue, specifically for batch jobs. Batch
26 jobs shall be submitted to the batch queue with no time constraints and
27 shall be run by the system using algorithms, based on unspecified fac‐
28 tors, that may vary with each invocation of batch.
29 Users shall be permitted to use batch if their name appears in the file
31 /usr/lib/cron/at.allow. If that file does not exist, the file
32 /usr/lib/cron/at.deny shall be checked to determine whether the user
33 shall be denied access to batch. If neither file exists, only a
34 process with the appropriate privileges shall be allowed to submit a
35 job. If only at.deny exists and is empty, global usage shall be permit‐
36 ted. The at.allow and at.deny files shall consist of one user name per
37 line.
38
40 None.
41
43 None.
44
46 The standard input shall be a text file consisting of commands accept‐
47 able to the shell command language described in Shell Command Language
48 .
49
51 The text files /usr/lib/cron/at.allow and /usr/lib/cron/at.deny shall
52 contain zero or more user names, one per line, of users who are,
53 respectively, authorized or denied access to the at and batch utili‐
54 ties.
55
57 The following environment variables shall affect the execution of
58 batch:
59 LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables
61 that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
62 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
63 ables for the precedence of internationalization variables used
64 to determine the values of locale categories.)
65 LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all
67 the other internationalization variables.
68 LC_CTYPE
70 Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
71 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
72 opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
73 LC_MESSAGES
75 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
76 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error
77 and informative messages written to standard output.
78 LC_TIME
80 Determine the format and contents for date and time strings
81 written by batch.
82 NLSPATH
84 Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
85 LC_MESSAGES .
86 SHELL Determine the name of a command interpreter to be used to invoke
88 the at-job. If the variable is unset or null, sh shall be used.
89 If it is set to a value other than a name for sh, the implemen‐
90 tation shall do one of the following: use that shell; use sh;
91 use the login shell from the user database; any of the preceding
92 accompanied by a warning diagnostic about which was chosen.
93 TZ Determine the timezone. The job shall be submitted for execution
95 at the time specified by timespec or -t time relative to the
96 timezone specified by the TZ variable. If timespec specifies a
97 timezone, it overrides TZ. If timespec does not specify a time‐
98 zone and TZ is unset or null, an unspecified default timezone
99 shall be used.
100
103 Default.
104
106 When standard input is a terminal, prompts of unspecified format for
107 each line of the user input described in the STDIN section may be writ‐
108 ten to standard output.
109
111 The following shall be written to standard error when a job has been
112 successfully submitted:
113 "job %s at %s\n", at_job_id, <date>
116 where date shall be equivalent in format to the output of:
118 date +"%a %b %e %T %Y"
121 The date and time written shall be adjusted so that they appear in the
123 timezone of the user (as determined by the TZ variable).
124 Neither this, nor warning messages concerning the selection of the com‐
126 mand interpreter, are considered a diagnostic that changes the exit
127 status.
128 Diagnostic messages, if any, shall be written to standard error.
130
132 None.
133
135 None.
136
138 The following exit values shall be returned:
139 0 Successful completion.
141 >0 An error occurred.
143
146 The job shall not be scheduled.
147 The following sections are informative.
149
151 It may be useful to redirect standard output within the specified com‐
152 mands.
153
155 1. This sequence can be used at a terminal:
156 batch
159 sort < file >outfile
160 EOT
161 2. This sequence, which demonstrates redirecting standard error to a
163 pipe, is useful in a command procedure (the sequence of output re‐
164 direction specifications is significant):
165 batch <<
168 ! diff file1 file2 2>&1 >outfile | mailx mygroup
169 !
170
172 Early proposals described batch in a manner totally separated from at,
173 even though the historical model treated it almost as a synonym for at
174 -qb. A number of features were added to list and control batch work
175 separately from those in at. Upon further reflection, it was decided
176 that the benefit of this did not merit the change to the historical
177 interface.
178 The -m option was included on the equivalent at command because it is
180 historical practice to mail results to the submitter, even if all job-
181 produced output is redirected. As explained in the RATIONALE for at,
182 the now keyword submits the job for immediate execution (after schedul‐
183 ing delays), despite some historical systems where at now would have
184 been considered an error.
185
187 None.
188
190 at
191
193 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
194 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
195 -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
196 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
197 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
198 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
199 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
200 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
201 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
202IEEE/The Open Group 2003 BATCH(1P)