<?php
require( 'wp-load.php' );
if ( !function_exists( 'post_exists' ) ) {
    require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/post.php' );
}
require( 'simple_html_dom.php' );

update_bac();

function update_bac()
{
    // log each cron execution for easier troubleshooting in the event of issues
    $logfile = 'bac_cron.log';
    file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  n", FILE_APPEND );
    file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Cron executedn", FILE_APPEND );

    // Set a long time limit to avoid cron timeouts
    $time_limit_success = (set_time_limit( 900 )) ? 'TRUE' : 'FALSE';
    file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  set_time_limit successful? {$time_limit_success} n", FILE_APPEND );

// create a WordPress post for each entry in the array that doesn't already exist in the database
    foreach( $entries_to_post as $postdata )
    {
        file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Looping entries_to_post, found {$postdata['name']}, {$postdata['date']} n", FILE_APPEND );

        $matching_post_id = post_exists( $postdata['name'], '', $postdata['date'] );

if( $matching_post_id === 0 )
        {
            file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Match not found in database, adding new post... n", FILE_APPEND );

            $postarr = [
                'post_author' => 0,
                'post_date' => $postdata['date'],
                'post_title' => $postdata['name'],
                'post_status' => 'publish',
                'post_type' => '[[custom-post-type]]'
            ];
            $post_id = wp_insert_post( $postarr, true );

            if( is_int( $post_id ) )
            {
                update_field( 'field_5741032e15daf', $postdata['href'], $post_id );
                update_field( 'field_5b93201831b5d', $postdata['img'], $post_id );

file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Post created: " . $post_id . ", " . $postdata['name'] . ", " . $postdata['href'] . "n", FILE_APPEND );
            }
            // wp_insert_post returns a WP_Error instead of a post ID if it fails
            else if( is_wp_error( $post_id ) )
            {
                file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Something went wrong!n", FILE_APPEND );
                file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  " . $post_id->get_error_message(), FILE_APPEND );
            }
        }
        else
        {
            file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Matching post found with ID {$matching_post_id} n", FILE_APPEND );
        }
    }

    file_put_contents( $logfile, date( "Y-m-d H:i:s" ) . "  Reached end of arrayn", FILE_APPEND );
}

2018-09-21 17:36:03
2018-09-21 17:36:03  Cron executed
2018-09-21 17:36:03  set_time_limit successful? TRUE
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-1]], 2018-06-08 00:00:00
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Matching post found with ID 516
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-2]], 2018-07-12 00:00:00
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Matching post found with ID 475
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-3]], 2018-08-31 00:00:00
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Matching post found with ID 476
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-4]], 2018-08-17 00:00:00
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Matching post found with ID 477
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-5]], 2018-09-07 00:00:00
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Matching post found with ID 478
...
2018-09-21 17:36:24  Reached end of array

2018-09-21 16:53:27
2018-09-21 16:53:27  Cron executed
2018-09-21 16:53:27  set_time_limit successful? TRUE
2018-09-21 16:54:27
2018-09-21 16:54:27  Cron executed
2018-09-21 16:54:27  set_time_limit successful? TRUE
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-1]], 2018-06-08 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Matching post found with ID 516
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-2]], 2018-07-12 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Matching post found with ID 475
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-3]], 2018-08-31 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Matching post found with ID 476
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-4]], 2018-08-17 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Matching post found with ID 477
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-5]], 2018-09-07 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Matching post found with ID 478
...
2018-09-21 16:55:01  Reached end of array
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-1]], 2018-06-08 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Match not found in database, adding new post...
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Post created: 526, [[post-title-1]], [[href]]
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-2]], 2018-07-12 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Matching post found with ID 475
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-3]], 2018-08-31 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Matching post found with ID 476
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-4]], 2018-08-17 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Matching post found with ID 477
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Looping entries_to_post, found [[post-title-5]], 2018-09-07 00:00:00
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Matching post found with ID 478
...
2018-09-21 16:55:02  Reached end of array