how do i put a date on the log file name in crontab

i've tried
a = test-'date +%m%d%y'.log
/path/file > /path/$a

and when this job is ran... i get test-'date +%m%d%y'.log as the filename instead of the actual date... any clues?



edit : n/m found it...
`date +\%Y\%m\%d`.log
and i cant use a variable for this or else it will print the exact string.

It would be helpful if you would tell us which shell you are using. With bash, ksh and tcsh you can use a variable as long as you make sure to use the proper "apostrophe"-character.

example bash/ksh:

example tcsh:


-Steven