I wanna read the date from input text file (last_intf_date.txt ) . /etc/profile while read whole_line do ds_date=`echo $whole_line | cut -c1-8` done < last_intf_date.txt echo $ds_date when i run shell script by myself $ds_date return the date value i want ,but when it's runned by crontab ,$ds_date return null what 's wrong with this script when running on crontab Thank u in advance

1. You may make your program simpler: cut -c1-8 last_intf_date.txt 2. $ds_date returns null, because while creates a subshell to run the statements in the while block. The value of $ds_date is not returned. 3. Try: #!/bin/ksh <=== add this line . /etc/profile while read whole_line do ds_date=`echo $whole_line | cut -c1-8` done < last_intf_date.txt echo $ds_date Notes: sh and ksh handle "while subshell" differently on Solaris - sh creates a subshell and ksh still runs it in the same shell. My Redhat Linux creates a subshell for both of sh and ksh. My HP-Unix runs it in the same shell for both of sh and ksh. Luke Chi