Title: wp_cron usage
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# wp_cron usage

 *  [nikki007](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nikki007/)
 * (@nikki007)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_cron-usage/)
 * I customized a spider calendar plugin which shows today’s birthdays and current
   months list of wedding anniversaries in the home page of the site. i wrote a 
   code in that plguin’s displaying page using wp_mail and mail will send. but this
   happens only when the site is visited. my code:
 *     ```
       if($dat==date('Y-m-d'))/*$dat is the date of event from DB*/
        {
         if($eid!=''){ /*if recipient email id is not null*/
        if($se!=1)  /*if email is sending first time then($se=db column 'send'value) $se=0    otherwise it is 1*/
         {
           $to=$eid;
           $sub="Birthday Wishes";
           $msg='Happy Birthday '.$ev_title[$j];
           $headers= 'From:Mysite <noreply@mysite.com>' . "\r\n".'Content-type: text/html';
           $attachments=array(WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/plugins/spider-event-calendar/images/happybday.gif');
           $rx=wp_mail($to,$sub,$msg,$headers,$attachments);
           $wpdb->update($wpdb->prefix.  "spidercalendar_event",array('send'=>1),array('id'=>$ev_id[$j]));/**/
           //echo "email send";
           }
         else{
         //echo "email already sent";
             }
           }
         }
       ```
   
 * i heard aboywp_cron. as i’m a newbie can anyone please tell me how should i write
   a cron from the above function to perform.and how to start the cron.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [Casey Driscoll](https://wordpress.org/support/users/caseypatrickdriscoll/)
 * (@caseypatrickdriscoll)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_cron-usage/#post-4789943)
 * Hi Nikki,
 * I was curious to learn more about WP-Cron, so I thought I would tackle this question.
 * Here is a good primer on WP-Cron >>
    [http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/insights-into-wp-cron-an-introduction-to-scheduling-tasks-in-wordpress–wp-23119](http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/insights-into-wp-cron-an-introduction-to-scheduling-tasks-in-wordpress–wp-23119)
 * At first glance, I’m not sure WP-Cron will help you, because it also only runs
   when the site is loaded, even if they are scheduled into the future. If you have
   a site that doesn’t get much activity, events will be missed because the page
   is not being accessed.
 * My get says what you want is a real *nix cronjob. Are you on a linux server? 
   Who is your host?
 * I’ll see if I can figure out more info.
 *  Thread Starter [nikki007](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nikki007/)
 * (@nikki007)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_cron-usage/#post-4790045)
 * yeah i’m using linux server.
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_cron-usage/#post-4790056)
 * You can [setup cron jobs](http://www.webmasters-central.com/article-blog/tutorials/cron-tutorial-managing-cron-tab-or-cron-job-is-easy/)
   that run at a specified time regardless of site traffic. How this is done varies
   by host, your control panel should have a “Cron Manager” or a pick for “Cron 
   jobs” or something like that. Your host should be able to help you if you can’t
   find it.
 * You will want to schedule wp-cron.php to be run in the cron manager, I suspect
   daily. You will also need to modify your code into a function, then add it as
   an action callback. Finally, you [schedule the action](http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_schedule_event)
   as an event. All this code can be in a plugin or on your theme’s (preferably 
   child theme) functions.php.
 * You still are using the WP version of Cron which requires a site visit to trigger
   your action. You are then using the Linux Cron to ensure a site “visit” occurs
   on schedule.
 * It’s possible to bypass the WP Cron portion, but you need to have code that is
   directly executable, which is a bit tricky to do correctly with the WP environment.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘wp_cron usage’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp_cron-usage/#post-4790056)
 * Status: not resolved

## Topics

### Topics with no replies

### Non-support topics

### Resolved topics

### Unresolved topics

### All topics