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I am trying to execute a systemd timer and would like to keep the output from the executed script in a file per date. Here is my ExecStart script in the .service file:
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'echo $(date +%Y-%m-%d) >> /home/username/test_output_$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log'
This creates the file but adds a "hash" instead of the month name:
~/test_output_2017-ea3c0c2dd56c499a93412641e41008db-01.log
The content is the same:
2017-ea3c0c2dd56c499a93412641e41008db-01
If I run /bin/bash -c 'echo $(date +%Y-%m-%d)' in the shell without passing it through systemd service, it works as expected. Prints:
2017-09-01.
Does %m stand for something else than a month number in the systemd environment?
Any idea how to set the systemd service to put the standard output from the script into a file with the current date?
Expected result:
test_output_2017-09-01.log
Thank you.
584
I'd use YYYY-MM-DD HHmmss for filenames, unless there is a particular need for timezones or a possible need to parse them into ISO dates; in those cases an ISO date would probably be preferrable.
So as far as I can tell, %% doesn't have any special meaning in a bash function name. It would be just like using XX instead. This is despite the definition of a name in the manpage: name A word consisting only of alphanumeric characters and under- scores, and beginning with an alphabetic character or an under- score.
How to append to file in Bash. To make a new file in Bash, you normally use > for redirection, but to append to an existing file, you would use >> .
You'll need to escape the $ and % signs, by doubling them both in order to make this work.
As described here:
To pass a literal dollar sign, use "$$"
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c 'echo $$(date +%%Y-%%m-%%d) >> /home/username/test_output_$$(date +%%Y-%%m-%%d).log'
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