Command doesn't work under cron ?

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I have defined in cron
crontab -l >/FIXENGINE/data/crontab.$(whoami).$(date +%a)

The resulting file is named
crontab.fixadmin.

When I run the above from a command line, the file is named:
crontab.fixadmin.Tue (or whatever day I happen to be running)

The question is - why do I get different results.

Any ideas??

John

2

What shell is cron running under? $() is Korn specific so back ticks may solve your issue; eg. `whoami`.

3

I assume I'm running under Korn - note that the $(whoami) works
echo $SHELL generated an email to the acct with out a result

I did try `date +%a` (backquotes) - still didn't work

john

4

Please try to provide a clue or two when you ask questions. It would help a lot to know exactly which OS you use. But from Sun's crontab man page:

I'm guessing that is your issue.

5

Thank you - you nailed it

I escaped the % sign and it now works fine

crontab -l >/FIXENGINE/data/crontab.$(whoami).$(date +\%a)

Thank you again

John

BTW - am running HPUX 11