>>> So a one time backup job may be put here or a scheduled reboot? After the job completes with at does it just disappear? Or could you dredge it up and use it again at some later date? <<< With at, the job would be run only for the time specified. If you were running a shell script or a program, that program would still exist but the 'job' per se is gone forever. Again, at was designed for 'ad hoc' types of running i.e., run once. >>>For what Jason commented, couldn't they add a character like the @ that causes cron to run once and then comment out the line? <<< Unix 'purists' (and I am not one believe me) would argue that is why you have at as well as cron . John Geiger