Naming files with date added

jmorris8 · 02-23-2007, 09:08 AM

I'm using Cron to specify a list of jobs that output network scans. I would like the date to be appended to the end of the filenames. Such as reportYYYYMMDD.html.

I was hoping I could include something like this in my cron file...

namedate = 'date +%Y%m%d'

/home/reports/reports$namedate.html

But I'm not sure if this would work, would I need to create a seperate script then call on that script in the cron batch?

Thanks.

tuxrules · 02-23-2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmorris8

But I'm not sure if this would work, would I need to create a seperate script then call on that script in the cron batch?

Cron will not call a set of commands like the ones you mentioned...it can only call one command or a script (with multiple commands). I believe you will need a script for that.

Tux,

jmorris8 · 02-23-2007, 09:45 AM

So from what youre saying, the best way for me to do this would be to use cron to create the reports, then call on a script. This script will take the reports that were just created, and rename them using a date variable to my desired filename. I can then use the script to email the newly renamed reports and archieve them if neccessary?

This is becoming more clear, thanks.

tuxrules · 02-23-2007, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmorris8

So from what youre saying, the best way for me to do this would be to use cron to create the reports, then call on a script. This script will take the reports that were just created, and rename them using a date variable to my desired filename. I can then use the script to email the newly renamed reports and archieve them if neccessary?

This is becoming more clear, thanks.

Even better option would be to just make a script to create, rename and postprocess (email, archive etc) reports...all in one go. You can also do that in pieces just like you mentioned.

jmorris8 · 02-23-2007, 01:29 PM

If I set my variable to "scandate", and enter my new filename as /Reports/germany$scandate.html, will it output as "germany20070223.html"? Thanks.

Oh, and could I put slashes in my variables...example, instead of [scandate='date +%Y%m%d'], could I put [scandate=' +%Y%/m%/d']? Thanks.