I need to figure out how to automatically insert a date and time of execution of a certain bash script file, into a txt file. Lets just say I have a bash script named backup.sh, and each time backup.sh executes, it would automatically create a txt file named Execution.txt, and within that txt file, the date and time of the execution of backup.sh would be written there. Does anyone have ideas to do this? I have Googled for some answers, but found nothing. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Simply put this inside your backup.sh file:
date > Execution.txt
This will create the file Execution.txt inside the current working directory. The file will contain the current date and time (if it already exists, it will be overwritten). Of course you may specify an absolute path to the file:
date > /absolute/path/to/Execution.txt
To append to the file (instead of overwriting it), use >> instead of >, i.e.,
date >> Execution.txt
answered Mar 24 '14 at 16:45
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1I recommend against using absolute paths to commands. It is not more secure. setuid bit on scripts doesn't work. It is disabled. – geirha Mar 24 '14 at 16:56
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@geirha Actually I just thought of this myself; you are perfectly right. As far as Linux is concerned at least. On MacOS X for instance, things are different (setuid may be enabled for scripts). Yet, an absolute path does not make the script less secure either. And it still ensures that the intended command is indeed executed, even when the
PATHis weird. Do you actually have any arguments why using an absolute path may be bad? – Malte Skoruppa Mar 24 '14 at 16:58 -
3It makes the script harder to maintain. What if command
foois at/bin/fooon one system, but/usr/bin/fooat another? you'd have to go through the entire script changing it from one to the other. If you don't know whatPATHis set to, set it yourself at the start of the script. – geirha Mar 24 '14 at 17:02 -
Hm, ok, fine. I guess you have a point. I reverted my last edit. Cheers and thanks for the comment. :) – Malte Skoruppa Mar 24 '14 at 17:05
If you want to record the date for one event in a script, it's likely you'll want to keep a running log. The date command can be pressed into service as a simple event logger:
date +'%c|Backup started' >> backup.log
The + option allows you to format the date anyway you chose. The details of date formatting are explained in man date. The above command will append a line to the log that looks something like:
Tue Mar 25 14:49:28 2014|Backup started
The pipe separator makes parsing the log a bit easier if you add different events:
date +"%c|Backup completed: $?" >> backup.log
$? is the return status of the last command to be executed, but you can use any variable that might be helpful for debugging later. (Note: you need to use double quotes if you want variables to be interpolated.) Looking at the log, you'd be able to discover a possible failure:
Tue Mar 25 14:49:28 2014|Backup started
Tue Mar 25 14:49:52 2014|Backup completed: 1
You have to add the following line in your backup.sh script:
date >> /path/to/Execution.txt
Explanation:
date- print the system date and time>> /path/to/Execution.txtredirect the output and appends it to the/path/toExecution.txtfile.
answered Mar 24 '14 at 16:45
