Note: SLURM directives are special instructions in your job script (lines starting with #SBATCH). They control resources, job naming, output, and more. Dependencies let you control when jobs run.
Common Directives
| Directive | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
#SBATCH -p |
Choose a queue (partition) | #SBATCH -p short-40core |
#SBATCH -N |
Number of nodes | #SBATCH -N 1 |
#SBATCH -n |
Number of tasks (cores) | #SBATCH -n 4 |
#SBATCH --mem |
Memory per node | #SBATCH --mem=16GB |
#SBATCH -t |
Wall time (HH:MM:SS) | #SBATCH -t 01:00:00 |
#SBATCH -J |
Job name | #SBATCH -J myjob |
#SBATCH -o |
Standard output file | #SBATCH -o job_%j.out |
#SBATCH -e |
Standard error file | #SBATCH -e job_%j.err |
Job Dependencies
You can make one job wait for another to finish using --dependency. For example:
sbatch first_job.slurm sbatch --dependency=afterok:<jobid> second_job.slurm
afterok:<jobid>→ Run only if the first job succeeds.after:<jobid>→ Run after the job starts (any outcome).afternotok:<jobid>→ Run if the job fails.
Tips
- Use
%jin filenames to include the job ID automatically. - Dependencies are useful for multi-step workflows (e.g., preprocessing → analysis → plotting).
- Keep scripts simple: request only the resources and time you need.