To append entries to crontab, try crontab -l | cat - /tmp/mynewentries | crontab Or, as I prefer, from vi, you just type :%!crontab -l then edit the entries as you see fit, and finish with :%!crontab -- "My God, Thiokol, when do you \\ Tom Neff want me to launch -- next April?" \\ uunet!bfmny0!tneff