docs: def absent(name,
             user='root',
             identifier=False,
             special=None,
             **kwargs):
      '''
      Verifies that the specified cron job is absent for the specified user; only
      the name is matched when removing a cron job.
  
      name
          The command that should be absent in the user crontab.
  
      user
          The name of the user whose crontab needs to be modified, defaults to
          the root user
  
      identifier
          Custom-defined identifier for tracking the cron line for future crontab
          edits. This defaults to the state name
  
      special
          The special keyword used in the job (eg. @reboot, @hourly...).
          Quotes must be used, otherwise PyYAML will strip the '@' sign.
      '''
      # NOTE: The keyword arguments in **kwargs are ignored in this state, but
      #       cannot be removed from the function definition, otherwise the use
      #       of unsupported arguments will result in a traceback.
  
      name = name.strip()
      if identifier is False:
          identifier = name
      ret = {'name': name,
             'result': True,
             'changes': {},
             'comment': ''}
  
      if __opts__['test']:
          status = _check_cron(user, name, identifier=identifier)
          ret['result'] = None
          if status == 'absent':
              ret['result'] = True
              ret['comment'] = 'Cron {0} is absent'.format(name)
          elif status == 'present' or status == 'update':
              ret['comment'] = 'Cron {0} is set to be removed'.format(name)
          return ret
  
      if special is None:
          data = __salt__['cron.rm_job'](user, name, identifier=identifier)
      else:
          data = __salt__['cron.rm_special'](user, name, special=special, identifier=identifier)
  
      if data == 'absent':
          ret['comment'] = "Cron {0} already absent".format(name)
          return ret
      if data == 'removed':
          ret['comment'] = ("Cron {0} removed from {1}'s crontab"
                            .format(name, user))
          ret['changes'] = {user: name}
          return ret
      ret['comment'] = ("Cron {0} for user {1} failed to commit with error {2}"
                        .format(name, user, data))
      ret['result'] = False
      return ret