How to verify if a cron job was run

Question

How do you verify if a cron job was run?

Crond logs to different files depending on your operating system. You can search the appropriate system log files for entries related to crond.

CentOS, AlmaLinux, RockyLinux, and CloudLinux

Crons are logged in /var/log/cron:

# grep -i cptest /var/log/cron
...
Aug 8 03:45:15 cent7 CROND[22729]: (cptest) CMD (/usr/local/bin/php /home/cptest/public_html/cron.php)

Note: The results above show that "/usr/local/bin/php /home/cptest/public_html/cron.php" was executed at 03:45 AM on August 8th

Ubuntu

Crons are logged in /var/log/syslog:

# grep -i cron /var/log/syslog | grep cptest
...
Aug 8 03:45:15 ubuntu CRON[6405]: (root) CMD (/usr/local/bin/php /home/cptest/public_html/cron.php)

Note: The results above show that "/usr/local/bin/php /home/cptest/public_html/cron.php" was executed at 03:45 AM on August 8th