I think I get it. The idea is to put conditional logic around the calling of (my) imp_script.sh? I think that is what Ron is suggesting too? Chris Marquez Oracle DBA -----Original Message----- From: oracle@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle@xxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wed 8/31/2005 11:37 AM To: Marquez, Chris Cc: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: PART II: - Beyond a basic Oracle EXP/IMP shell script: Error Handling & Exit Status? There's a million ways to do what you're wanting to do. Here's some cutesy things I do within bash scripts.... $? is your friend. BCVStatus=0 /opt/emc/WideSky/V5.3.0/bin/symmir -g DBNAME verify DB1-DBNAME BCV ld BCV-DBNAME -synched > /dev/null 2>&1 BCVStatus=$? until [ "$BCVStatus" = 0 ] do sleep 5; /opt/emc/WideSky/V5.3.0/bin/symmir -g DBNAME verify DB1-DBNAME BCV ld BCV-DBNAME -synched > /dev/null 2>&1 BCVStatus=$?; done Copious output for reading cron output after getting to the office... echo "`/bin/date +%H:%M:%S` Export D_S tables" $ORACLE_HOME/bin/exp / file=/e07/oracle/export/exp_das_$TSTAMP.dmp TABLES=BLAH1,BLAH2 LOG=/d02/app/oracle/admin/DBNAME/adhoc/logs/exp_das_$TSTAMP.log STATUS=$? if [ $STATUS -gt 0 ]; then echo "*** Export encountered errors - errorlevel $STATUS" echo "*** Export encountered errors - errorlevel $STATUS" | /usr/ucb/mail -s "DBNAME refresh failed: Export D_S encountered errors" dba@xxxxxxxx exit 1 fi echo "`/bin/date +%H:%M:%S` Export D_S tables complete" hope this helps