Shell Programming and Scripting

If you are using crontab -e and entering one job, then saving the file, and then invoking crontab again to enter the "next" job you will have problems.

The crontab file is a list of all scheduled jobs. When you edit it using crontab -e you need to add all of your jobs in the edit session, not just one. So your file will look something like this to run two jobs at the desired time (just past midnight and 8am in this example):

Code:

1 0 * * * /home/scooter/bin/cleanup >/tmp/logs/cleanup 2>&1
0 8 * * *  /home/scooter/bin/daily_run >/tmp/logs/daily 2>&1

When you edit the file again, you will see all of the jobs and you can either add to them, modify them, or delete one or more jobs. Then save the file.

Make sure that you have no blank lines in the file. You might want to read the manual page for both crontab(1) and crontab(5).

Why would that be a problem? As long as the file is saved...

@OP: That may be your problem -- are you saving the crontab after editing? What editor are you using? Have you tried the suggestion posted above with setting the EDITOR var?

I assumed that the OP was saving just one line at a time and not all jobs. Might not be, but that's the only way I could think to explain why crontab -l wasn't listing all jobs.

Thanks Guys
The post by agama has been very helpful !!!
I put all the cron jobs in one file and after saving it displayed:

crontab: installing new crontab

editng with crontab -e is also helpful as opposed to editing with vi or other editors
Problem Solved!
Thanks