Setup a cronjob for PHP script in ubuntu & PHP - php

Question

I want to setup a cronjob for PHP script in ubuntu
I enter this command in terminal
$ crontab -e
Then I choose nano editor which is recommended by ubuntu. Then I enter the blow line into that. Then I press control+C, it asking Y/N for save. I press Y and F2 for close.
* */2 * * * root php /var/www/html/script.php
Other things I've tried:
* */2 * * * /var/www/html/script.php
* */2 * * * root /var/www/html/script.php
After that, I restart cron using the below command.
sudo /etc/init.d/cron restart
Then I check crontab list using crontab -l, it says no cron job set for the root user.
I tried to directly create a crontab.txt file into the cron.hourly / cron.d directory with one of the above line.
I tried numerous forum and all says crontab -e then enter or create crontab file inside cron directory. Nothing is helping me. I am scratching my head.
What is the correct way to create cronjob for php script in ubuntu 16.04 & php version 7.0

Answer 1

Try like this to set crontab using root user,
sudo crontab -e
Do your changes via nano or vim. Finally save and quit
* */2 * * * /var/www/html/script.php
* */2 * * * root /var/www/html/script.php
No need to restart again using this sudo /etc/init.d/cron restart

Answer 2

Try this one (as root user):
1. sudo crontab -e
* */2 * * * php -f /var/www/html/script.php > /dev/null 2>&1
OR
* */2 * * * cd /var/www/html/; php -f script.php > /dev/null 2>&1
for crontabs runing as www-data user use command sudo crontab -u www-data -e for editing
after save crontasks will be installed automaticaly.
OR
You can create tmp_crontask_file with content * */2 * * * php -f /var/www/html/script.php > /dev/null 2>&1 AND next use sudo crontab tmp_crontask_file for install cron(s) from file (as root) sudo crontab -u www-data tmp_crontask_file (as www-data user).
Edit 1:
WARNING!
If you install cron from file (last option) content of file overwrite existing crontab.