crontab bash tests

[Ralf Mardorf]

My apologies I made a few copy & paste errors. Actually the difference
between bash and dash does explain what's going on. IIUC this was
already mentioned by the thread before I chimed in.

   • rocketmouse at archlinux ~ 
   $ dash -i
   $ { [ $(true)$? -eq 0 ] && true || echo "Hello Kitty"; }
   $ { [[ $(true)$? -eq 0 ]] && true || echo "Hello Kitty"; }
   dash: 2: [[: not found
   Hello Kitty
   $ exit
    rocketmouse at archlinux ~ 
   $ bash -i
   • rocketmouse at archlinux ~ 
   $ { [[ $(true)$? -eq 0 ]] && true || echo "Hello Kitty"; }
   • rocketmouse at archlinux ~ 
   $
   
So this does explain why rm does run when using cron, but does not run
by command line.

The OP claimed:
"Whether
if ..
[ ..
[[ ..
and I tried them all, outside of _cron_ the same command line,
copy&paste, works as expected, tests works as expected."

Maybe the OP has done the same as I've done, mistakes when doing the
copy & paste. Apart from this we need to keep in mind that the one-liner
script fails if the "touch" command for any reason should return an exit
status not equal to 0, in this case "rm" is run, too.