How can PHP be effectively integrated with cron jobs for automated data retrieval tasks?

To effectively integrate PHP with cron jobs for automated data retrieval tasks, you can create a PHP script that performs the data retrieval task and then set up a cron job to run this script at specified intervals. This allows you to automate the process of fetching data without manual intervention.

<?php
// data_retrieval_script.php

// Your data retrieval logic here

// Example: Fetch data from a remote API and save it to a file
$data = file_get_contents('https://api.example.com/data');
file_put_contents('data.txt', $data);

echo "Data retrieval task completed successfully.\n";
?>