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I set the following line in cron job under /etc/cron.d/find_old_file

* * * * * root [[ -d /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector ]] && find /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector -type f -mtime +10 -regex '.*\.log.*[0-9]$' -printf '%TY %Tb %Td %TH:%TM %P\n' >> /var/log/find_old_file

this cron should find the logs that older then 10 day ( but only if /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector folder exists )

from some unclear reason we notice that /var/log/find_old_file not created

and when we test it this line works fine on shell bash but not from cron

we also add 2>&1 in the end of the file but this not work

please advice what is wrong in my cron job ?

more /etc/cron.d/find_old_file * * * * * root [[ -d /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector ]] && find /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector -type f -mtime +10 -regex '.*\.log.*[0-9]$' -printf '%TY %Tb %Td %TH:%TM %P\n' >> /var/log/find_old_file 2>&1

example when we test it on shell bash

 [[ -d /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector ]] && find /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector -type f -mtime +10 -regex '.*\.log.*[0-9]$' -printf '%TY %Tb %Td %TH:%TM %P\n' 2018 Aug 13 12:54 collector-gc.log-201808130951 2018 Aug 13 04:22 collector-gc.log-201808130403 2018 Aug 01 12:40 gc.log-201808011229 2018 Aug 01 12:40 collector-gc.log-201808011229 2018 Aug 09 15:36 gc.log-201808091332 2018 Aug 09 10:50 gc.log-201808090825 2018 Aug 13 04:02 collector-gc.log-201808130346 2018 Aug 13 16:51 gc.log-201808131358 2018 Aug 01 13:35 gc.log-201808011241 2018 Aug 01 13:35 collector-gc.log-201808011241 2018 Aug 09 15:39 collector-gc.log-201808091332 2018 Aug 02 23:06 gc.log-201808022256

when I put this

* * * * * root echo test >> /var/log/test

then its works , but not my line as described

so what are happens here?

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  • Also: unix.stackexchange.com/questions/29578/… Commented Aug 29, 2018 at 19:02
  • Your cron log (/var/log/cron) should also have an interesting entry where the find command ends shortly after the -printf. Commented Aug 29, 2018 at 19:10
  • 1
    if sh != bash (eg Debian) then [[ ]] fails Commented Aug 29, 2018 at 20:02

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

The % sign in crontab see man (5) crontab has special meaning (newline) and to get your command work you need to escape them.

A "%" character in the command, unless escaped with a backslash (\), will be changed into newline characters, and all data after the first % will be sent to the command as standard input.

so, your command should be:

* * * * * root [[ -d /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector ]] && find /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector -type f -mtime +10 -regex '.*\.log.*[0-9]$' -printf '\%TY \%Tb \%Td \%TH:\%TM \%P\n' >> /var/log/find_old_file
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2

Create an executable shell file 

cat /root/bin/find_old_file #!/bin/sh [[ -d /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector ]] && find /var/log/ambari-metrics-collector -type f -mtime +10 -regex '.*\.log.*[0-9]$' -printf '%TY %Tb %Td %TH:%TM %P\n' >> /var/log/find_old_file

which you run via cron

cat /etc/cron.d/find_old_file * * * * * root /root/bin/find_old_file

If a script needs to be reformatted it to suit cron, it is often beneficial move it out of cron.

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