/bin/sh: Syntax error: Unterminated quoted string

I am trying to get a cronjob to pipe output into a dated file in a specified (folder) location.

My crontab entry looks something like this:

* * * * * /some/path/test.sh >> $(date "+/home/oompah/logs/%Y%m%d.test.log")

What I don't understand is that when I type this command at the console, I get the correct string:

echo $(date "+/home/oompah/logs/%Y%m%d.test.log")
/home/oompah/logs/20110329.test.log

What's causing this error and how may I fix it?

bash version info is:

GNU bash, version 4.1.5(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

3 Answers

You should excape the percent signs in your crontab:

* * * * * /some/path/test.sh >> $(date "+/home/oompah/logs/\%Y\%m\%d.test.log")

Percent (%) signs have a special meaning in crontabs. They are interpreted as newline characters.

Put the date command inside the script. cron isn't necessarily running the shell you think it is.

make sure you have shebang #!/bin/bash as the first line in your script. Also, as bmargulies stated, put the date command inside the script if possible.