Cron issue: Why cronjob does not work when % sign is used in RHEL?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • I have following line in a cron file:
24 * * * * /bin/cp /etc/<file-name> "/tmp/<file-name>.txt.$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
  • Getting below errors after setting above cronjob 
/bin/sh: -c: line 0: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `)'
/bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file
  • What is wrong with the above cronjob?

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7
  • crond

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