Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi,
My shell script not getting called through cron job.
The same works fine when executed manually.

I tried to generate logs to find if the scripts has some errors related to path using following command- trying to execute .sh file every 5 mins:

Code:

*/5 * * * * /home/myfolder/abc.sh /home/myfolder/abc.log 2>&1

But even the logs are not getting generated at the mentioned path.

The shell script is located in the folder root/home/myfolder.

Can any one help me idenfy the issue and its resolution.

Any help/suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

This question is so common its in our FAQ.

your PATH variable probably isn't set right. Cron executes with a very minimal PATH and therefore won't find many common shell commands.

Either . /etc/profile at the beginning of your script or set a proper PATH by hand.

Dear Corona688,
do you mean that if the location of my .sh file is

Code:

root -> home-> myfolder-> abc.sh

than i shd mention :

Code:

*/5 * * * * ./home/myfolder/abc.sh

Am i right?

No. I mean the PATH variable, in your script. It defines where to look for commands.

Cron gives a very minimal PATH to programs it runs. It often doesn't even include /usr/bin.

Either set the PATH variable yourself, inside the script, or . /etc/profile inside the script to get a better PATH.

sorry to bother u again, but am new to shell scripts & croning so would need more help from you:

the content of my script is :

Code:

#!/bin/sh
HOST='xxx.xx.xx.xx'
USER='xx'
PASSWD='xxx'
FILE='*.gz'
　
　
echo "
　
gzip *.dmp
ftp -n $HOST <<END_SCRIPT
quote USER $USER
quote PASS $PASSWD
mput $FILE 
quit
END_SCRIPT
　
cd \my_ARCHIVE
rm $FILE
cd ..
mv $FILE \my_ARCHIVE
"> ftp -n > ftp_$$.log
　
exit 0

can u suggest wht exactly needs to be updated in my .sh file so that it gets executed by cron job.

Also have a query- if the issue is related to path...at least error log shd be generated, even thats not happening.

Thanks in advance

Please post what Operating System and version you are running and what Shell you normally use (regardless of the default Shell for you cron).

If there is something fundamental wrong, the error message will be found in unix mail for the owner of the crontab.
A common issue would be if /home/myfolder/abc.sh was not executable by the owner of the cron.

Ps. The script as posted in post #3 contains many syntax/design? errors and there is no way that it works with or without cron. Please outline what the script is intended to do because deducing this from faulty code is impossible.

Pps. Please post in proper English not textspeak.

Ppps. The script in the crontab line as posted the script takes a parameter. Nowhere in the the posted script is the parameter referenced. Hmm, perhaps the crontab line is wrong.
Perhaps the crontab line should be something like this:

Code:

*/5 * * * * /home/myfolder/abc.sh 2>&1 >/home/myfolder/abc.log

That should explain your missing logfile.


I think that an important question is where precisely in the directory tree for your server is the directory my_ARCHIVE? Please be aware that the \ character in unix protects a character from interpretation by the Shell whereas a / character could be part of a path describing a directory tree. Microsoft Operating systems use \ characters in path names,but unix Operating Systems use / in path names.

After the #!/bin/sh line, do

. /etc/profile