Question

I have the following script (it connects to oracle database, looking for applied arclogs and deletes it):

ARCLOGS=$(/oracle/base11202/11202/bin/sqlplus -s /  as sysdba <<EOF
set head off
set verify off
set feedback off
select name from v$archived_log where applied = 'YES' and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence#;
exit;
EOF)

echo "${ARCLOGS}" | while read arc
do
  if [[ -e $arc ]] 
  then
    rm -f $arc
  fi
done

It works fine when i start it by myself. But the idea is to start it with cron. Cron gives errors when trying to start this script:

Your "cron" job executed on test on Mon Nov 14 15:17:00 2011
if [ -e /arclogs/arcs.sh ]; then sh -x /arclogs/arcs.sh; fi 


produced the following output:

+ + /oracle/base11202/bin/sqlplus -s / as sysdba
+ 0<<
set head off
set verify off
set feedback off
select name from v$archived_log where applied = "YES" and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence#;
exit;
ARCLOGS=select name from v$archived_log where applied = "YES" and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence#
                                                *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00904: "YES": invalid identifier
+ read arc
+ echo select name from v$archived_log where applied = "YES" and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence#
                                                *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00904: "YES": invalid identifier
+ [[ -e select name from v$archived_log where applied = "YES" and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence# ]]
+ read arc
+ [[ -e * ]]
+ read arc
+ [[ -e ERROR at line 1: ]]
+ read arc
+ [[ -e ORA-00904: "YES": invalid identifier ]]
+ read arc

Looks like the problem with escaping symbols. But i have no idea what i have to escape.

Btw, the scripts works with cron when i split it in two pieces:

arcs.sh:

ARCLOGS=$(/oracle/base11202/bin/sqlplus -s /  as sysdba <<EOF
set head off
set verify off
set feedback off
select name from v$archived_log where applied = 'YES' and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence#;
exit;
EOF)

echo "${ARCLOGS}" | while read arc
do
  if [[ -e $arc ]] 
  then
    rm -f $arc
  fi
done

and arcs.sql:

connect / as sysdba
set head off
set verify off
set feedback off
select name from v$archived_log where applied = 'YES' and first_time > sysdate - 1 order by sequence#;
exit;

But i want to have it in one piece. Can someone, please, help?

Answer 1

Just taking a shot in the dark. Try calling /bin/bash explicity from your cron line. Cron executes with sh by default.