crontab question

#1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005

Why does this cron entry do nothing? It works interactively.

58 23 * * * mydate=`date '+%Y%m%d'`;mv /opt/home/user/file /opt/home/user/file_$mydate

Perderabo · #2 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005

From the crontab man page:

Quote:

The sixth field of a line in a crontab file is a string that is executed by the shell at the specified times. A percent character in this field (unless escaped by \) is translated to a NEWLINE character.

Kelam_Magnus · #3 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005

Just a personal preference, I consider it bad coding to define a variable in the crontab...

On occasion the crontab can be hacked, especially on the user level, and code like that can be modified more easily than it probably could be in a file protected by directory permissions.

sg6876 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005

Hi

I want to know how UNIX shell works internally. Basically want to know how the shell differentiates between a normal file (it can be shell script or any other file) and an executable file?

Thanks in advance
-sg

Perderabo · #5 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005

Go to our faq section and read: What does "#! /usr/bin/ksh" mean?

sg6876 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-05-2005

Thank you Perderabo my doubt got cleared.

More UNIX and Linux Forum Topics You Might Find Helpful
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Crontab question	blondie2407	HP-UX	12	09-16-2009 01:53 PM
Crontab Question.	NycUnxer	UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers	9	11-14-2007 11:53 AM
CRONTAB Question	pauls_579	UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers	2	01-23-2007 05:46 PM
Crontab question	ctcuser	Shell Programming and Scripting	3	10-19-2006 09:22 AM
crontab question	Relykk	UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers	7	03-28-2004 08:02 PM

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread:


	Powered by