duration parsing

[user/henk/code/snooze.git] / README.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5831e81f4a6e569cc4951f589b7b84453faca3b6..d5e86d1ad6961052e25ad77647eef559252db9a0 100644 (file)
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ Over uschedule:
 * run at 10 pm on weekdays:
   cron: `0 22 * * 1-5`
   snooze: `-w1-5 -H22`
-* run 23 minutes after midn, 2am, 4am ..., everyday:
-  cron: 23 0-23/2 * * *
+* run 23 minutes after midnight, 2am, 4am ..., everyday:
+  cron: `23 0-23/2 * * *`
   snooze: `-H/2 -M23`
 * run every second week:
   snooze: `-W/2`
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ Over uschedule:
 * `-R`: add between 0 and RANDDELAY seconds to the scheduled time.
 * `-s`: commands are executed even if they are SLACK (default: 60) seconds late.
 
+The durations RANDDELAY and SLACK and TIMEWAIT are parsed as seconds,
+unless a postfix of `m` for minutes, `h` for hours, or `d` for days is used.
+
 The remaining arguments are patterns for the time fields:
 
 * `-d`: day of month
@@ -99,14 +102,14 @@ of TIMEFILE plus TIMEWAIT seconds.
 
 When `-T` is *not* passed, snooze will start finding the first matching time
 starting from the mtime of TIMEFILE, and taking SLACK into account.
-(E.g. `-H0 -s$((24*60*60)) -t timefile` will start an instant
+(E.g. `-H0 -s 1d -t timefile` will start an instant
 execution when timefile has not been touched today, whereas without `-t`
 this would always wait until next midnight.)
 
 If TIMEFILE does not exist, it will be assumed outdated enough to
 ensure earliest execution.
 
-snooze does not update the timefiles, you need to do that!
+snooze does not update the timefiles, your job needs to do that!
 Only mtime is looked at, so touch(1) is good.
 
 ## Exact behavior
@@ -136,15 +139,15 @@ Run a job like cron, every day at 7am and 7pm:
 
 Run a job daily, never twice a day:
 
-       exec snooze -H0 -S $((24*60*60)) -t timefile \
+       exec snooze -H0 -s 1d -t timefile \
                sh -c 'run-parts /etc/cron.daily; touch timefile'
 
 Use snooze inline, run a mirror script every hour at 30 minutes past,
 but ensure there are at least 20 minutes in between.
 
        set -e
-       snooze -H'*' -M30 -t timefile -T $((20*60))
-       touch timefile  # remove this if instantly retrying on failure is ok
+       snooze -H'*' -M30 -t timefile -T 20m
+       touch timefile  # remove this if instantly retrying on failure were ok
        mirrorallthethings
        touch timefile
 
@@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ Use snooze inline, cron-style mail:
 
        set -e
        snooze ...
-        actualjob >output 2>&1 ||
+       actualjob >output 2>&1 ||
                mail -s "$(hostname): snooze job failed with status $?" root <output
 
 ## Installation