Crontab editing error

[jona_1]

I put this line in crontab
======================================
* * * * sleep 60;date>>/tmp/inetd.txt;ps -eaflx|grep -i inetd|grep -v grep >> /tmp/inetd.txt
=======================================
but showing some error

* * * * sleep 60;date>>/tmp/inetd.txt;ps -eaflx|grep -i inetd|grep -v grep >> /tmp/inetd.txt
crontab: error on previous line; unexpected character found in line.
You have mail in /var/mail/root
unixh168-root@ / >
================================
can you pls help me.
REgards,

[g3jza]

Hi,
your statement for cron job is incomplete.The time, when the job should be executed, consists of at least 5 fields:

minute hour monthday month weekday

And after that should be your command.

So you should add another '*' before the command.

#man crontab

[g3jza · Accepted solution]

like this:

* * * * * sleep 60;date>>/tmp/inetd.txt;ps -eaflx|grep -i inetd|grep -v grep >> /tmp/inetd.txt

Anyway, I don't know, whether the 'sleep 60' is of any use, as this commmand will be run every minute anyway...

[jona_1]

tnx

[Dennis Handly]

If you have something complex like this, you may want to put it all in script. That way you can easily change it and test it outside of cron.