[gentoo-user] Using 'time' command in crontab?

[gentoo-user] Using 'time' command in crontab?

[Tanstaafl]

Hi all,

Ok, I want to use the time command in my crontab...

Working crontab entry:

> 58 6,11,16,21 * * * rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf sync; rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf hourly

Non-working (with time command added):

> 58 6,11,16,21 * * * time { rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf sync; rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf hourly }

Adding the time { } to the command results in the following error being 
emailed:

/bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file

Obviously this is more proof of my lack of understanding bash, but 
googling hasn't revealed a solution, so any help is appreciated...

Thanks

Re: [gentoo-user] Using 'time' command in crontab?

[Alan McKinnon]

On 11/07/2013 13:16, Tanstaafl wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Ok, I want to use the time command in my crontab...
> 
> Working crontab entry:
> 
>> 58 6,11,16,21 * * * rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf sync;
>> rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf hourly
> 
> Non-working (with time command added):
> 
>> 58 6,11,16,21 * * * time { rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf
>> sync; rsnapshot -c /etc/rsnapshot/myhost.conf hourly }
> 
> Adding the time { } to the command results in the following error being
> emailed:
> 
> /bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file
> 
> Obviously this is more proof of my lack of understanding bash, but
> googling hasn't revealed a solution, so any help is appreciated...
> 
> Thanks
> 


replace the braces {} with parenthesis ().

braces do many interesting things in bash such as sequences {1..10} and
delimiting variables ${INSERT_VAR_NAME_HERE} but you want to group
several commands and run them in a subshell, parenthesis does that.



-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] Using 'time' command in crontab?

[Tanstaafl]

On 2013-07-11 7:21 AM, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11/07/2013 13:16, Tanstaafl wrote:
>> Adding the time { } to the command results in the following error being
>> emailed:
>>
>> /bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file
>>
>> Obviously this is more proof of my lack of understanding bash, but
>> googling hasn't revealed a solution, so any help is appreciated...

> replace the braces {} with parenthesis ().
>
> braces do many interesting things in bash such as sequences {1..10} and
> delimiting variables ${INSERT_VAR_NAME_HERE} but you want to group
> several commands and run them in a subshell, parenthesis does that.

Crap, figured it would be something simple...

Thanks Alan...