cmd works in bash, not crontab??

[three_jeeps]

I want to write the date & time and a text string to a file from crontab.

The following line works fine in the CL:
echo $(/bin/date +"%F %T")" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

I installed in crontab and no text appears in the file that it is redirected to.

The crontab entry looks like:
* * * * * echo $(/bin/date +"%F %T")" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

Tried a version to just write to stdout....

* * * * * echo $(/bin/date +"%F %T")" Some text"

No date, time or text appears at the command line, nada.

Shell is bash.
Any suggestion what the problem is and how to fix???
thanks,
-J

[Rubberman]

You might want to run the command with nohup instead. Some applications will barf if they aren't attached to some sort of terminal for all of stdin, stdout, and stderr.

[nmset]

Try this :

/bin/echo

in your cron file. cron ignores the system's PATH variable. You have to redefine it in the cron file or use absolute paths.

[three_jeeps]

You might want to run the command with nohup instead. Some applications will barf if they aren't attached to some sort of terminal for all of stdin, stdout, and stderr.

OK, well I tried nohup, as well as &, and neither command worked...e.g. no text in the target file. Here are the excerpts from crontab:

* * * * * nohup echo $(/bin/date +"%F %T")" From cron" >> /home/me/foo.log&


and,
* * * * * echo $(/bin/date +"%F %T")" From cron" >> /home/me/foo.log&

Not sure I used nohup correctly, but the command worked when entered from the CL.
Good suggestion...am sorry it didn't fix the problem....sigh
-J

[Franklin52]

Use single quotes with the date command:

$(/bin/date +'%F %T')" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

Or escape the % character:

$(/bin/date +"\%F \%T")" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

[three_jeeps]

Use single quotes with the date command:

$(/bin/date +'%F %T')" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

Or escape the % character:

$(/bin/date +"\%F \%T")" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

Using the escape in the date command, in crontab worked:

* * * * * echo $(/bin/date +"\%F \%T")" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

Interestingly, using the single quotes did not....hmmm

* * * * * echo $(/bin/date +'%F %T')" Some text" >> /home/me/foo.txt

Thank you!
-J