batch - Run commands when the system is not busy

Format

batch

Description

batch lets you run commands in batch mode. It reads the commands from the standard input (stdin). The system records the commands and runs them at a time when the system load is relatively low (that is, when the system is not busy).

The batch command is equivalent to 
at -q b -m now

For more details, see at.

at, batch, and crontab submit jobs to cron; the data in those jobs may contain double-byte characters. When the jobs are run, the data in the jobs are interpreted in the locale that cron is using. Since it is strongly recommended that cron be started in the POSIX locale, double-byte characters in the job may not be interpreted correctly. You may be able to get around this by calling setlocale() in the job itself.

Environment variables

batch uses the following environment variable:
SHELL
Contains the name of the shell command interpreter used to invoke the batch job.

Localization

batch uses the following localization environment variables:
  • LANG
  • LC_ALL
  • LC_CTYPE
  • LC_MESSAGES
  • NLSPATH

Exit values

0
Successful completion.
>0
Returned if the command fails for any reason.

If an error occurs, batch does not schedule the job.

Portability

POSIX.2 User Portability Extension

Related information

at, bg, crontab