Help Setting Up A CRONTAB File

[mtorbin]

Hey alll,

I'd like to set up a CRONTAB file that would do the following on the FIRST day of every month:

1) Copy a file called ftpLog.txt to a new location and append something to its name, such as "_JAN" but would be specific to the previous month.
2) Open the old version of ftpLog.txt and completely clean it out.

So far, this is what I have:

0 0 1 * * (cp /var/

http://www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt

/var/

http://www/cgi-bin/ftpLog_OLD.txt;

rm /var/

http://www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt;

mk /var/

http://www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt;

chmod a+wr ftpLog.txt) >/dev/null 2>&1

Any help would be most appreciated.

- MT

 

[SamBones]

I find it's better to put those commands into a script, then keep the crontab entry simple...

0 0 1 * * /path_to/move_ftpLog.sh >> /path_to/move_ftpLog.log 2>&1

That makes it easier to change the commands it's doing later on. Just modify the script.

Hope this helps.

 

[ProbablyDown]

create a script to do the tasks:


move_log.sh for instance: This script could have commands:

#!/usr/bin/bash
cp /var/[URL unfurl="true"]www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt[/URL] /var/[URL unfurl="true"]www/cgi-bin/ftpLog_`date[/URL] +%b`.txt
rm /var/[URL unfurl="true"]www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt[/URL]

Then

$ crontab -e

59 11 1 1-12 * ~/move_log.sh >/dev/null 2>&1

 

[ProbablyDown]

Sorry actually I was trying to set it up to run on the last minute of the month so that you can use the date command.

So you can either change the first 2 values to 00 00 and live with the Month being the new month name, or you have to do something to minus the month (not too hard).

 

[kordaff]

This would be first second of each month:

0 0 0 1-12 *

=)

 

[SamBones]

Something like this...

#!/bin/ksh

set -A PREV Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

cp /var/[URL unfurl="true"]www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt[/URL] /var/www/cgi-bin/ftpLog_${PREV[$(date '+%m')]}

:> /var/[URL unfurl="true"]www/cgi-bin/ftpLog.txt[/URL]

Then the crontab entry is...

0 0 1 * * /path_to/move_ftpLog.sh >> /path_to/move_ftpLog.log 2>&1

It will run right at midnight (plus or minus cron's clock resolution), and have the previous month's abbreviation in the name of the file.

Hope this helps.

 

[SamBones]

Oops, forgot I was in a Linux forum. Ignore my script unless you have [tt]ksh[/tt] or [tt]pdksh[/tt].