at

Install with:

1sudo apt install at

Enable the daemon service with:

1sudo systemctl enable --now atd

Then jobs can be specified with absolute time, such as:

1at 16:20

1at noon

1at midnight

1at teatime

Type in your command, e.g.:

1touch /tmp/$FILE.txt

The jobs can also be specified relative to the current time:

1at now +15 minutes

Finally, accept the jobs with ^D.

Managing `at` Jobs

Display a list of commands to run with:

1atq

2 Sat Oct 20 16:00:00 2018 a roach-1

This will print all pending IDs. Remove a job by the ID with:

1atrm 2

Check /var/spool/atd/ to see the jobs.

Automatically add a job for later, by setting the date, then using echo for the command.

1t="$(date -d "2 minutes" +%R)"
2echo "fortune > ~/$FILE" | at "$t"
3watch cat $FILE

The $t here outputs the day in minutes, but you could also do t="$(date -d "2 days" +%m/%d/%Y)".