Cron is not echoing correct value inside cron but outside works fine

Question

I even included source /home/user/.bashrc; <my scripts> in crontab, still it does not output correct thing.

I have a while loop in my script which checks some value from a service called zend. It is like bitcoind but for Zen. The function looks like this, I put it here check_existing_balance_withoutfl should be greater than 0 but it is saying that it is 0 when I run from cron.

{

declare -i bal;
bal=0

while [ $bal -le 1 ]
do
    # #code to send zen to z addresses
    echo "Balance is $check_t_balance";
    logger "Balance is $check_t_balance";
    sleep 5

    # This following line is essential at this particular place
    export_address=$(zen-cli listaddresses | jq -r '.[2]');

    if python -c "import sys; sys.exit(0 if float($check_t_balance) <= float($min_ask_zen) else 1)"; # # for test
    # # if python -c "import sys; sys.exit(0 if float($check_t_balance) >= float($min_ask_zen) else 1)"; 

        # if [ $(bc <<< "$check_t_balance >= $min_ask_zen") -eq 1 ]; 

        then

        #statements

        echo "ZEN balance is sufficient"
        echo
        echo "We have received $check_t_balance zen in $export_address this t address"
        echo
        echo "Now, this will be sent to two z-addresses" && echo
        logger "Now, this will be sent to two z-addresses" && echo

        # # Recommended tx_fee is >= 0.0001
        # # Increse here if needed
        # tx_fee=0.0001;

        amt_aft_txfee=$(python -c "print(float($check_t_balance-$tx_fee))");
        amt=$(python -c "print(float($amt_aft_txfee/2))");
        echo "Sending now.... $amt ZEN to two z addresses"

        topUpzksnark;
        # # zen-cli z_sendmany $new_imported_address '[{"address": "'$(zen-cli z_getnewaddress)'", "amount": $amt},{"address": "'$(zen-cli z_getnewaddress)'", "amount": $amt}]';
        echo "$amt ZEN is sent to two Z addresses"

        else

            echo "ZEN balance is not suffiecient"
            moreZentoSend=$(python -c "print(float($min_ask_zen-$check_t_balance))")
            echo "Please send at least $moreZentoSend Zen to $export_address this address" >> /home/rock64/log.txt
            logger "Please send at least "$moreZentoSend" Zen to "$export_address" this address"

            echo "bal is $bal" >> /home/rock64/log.txt
    fi

    declare -i bal;
    declare -i check_existing_balance_withoutfl;
    echo "check_existing_balance_withoutfl is $check_existing_balance_withoutfl" >>/home/rock64/log.txt;
    check_existing_balance_withoutfl=$(zen-cli z_gettotalbalance | grep total | tr -d '," ' | cut -d ':' -f2 | tr -d '.' | bc);
    # check_existing_balance_withoutfl=$((10#$(zen-cli z_gettotalbalance | grep total | tr -d '," ' | cut -d ':' -f2 | tr -d '.')));
    # check_existing_balance_withoutfl=$((10#$check_existing_balance_withoutfl));
    bal+=$check_existing_balance_withoutfl;
    echo "check_existing_balance_withoutfl is $check_existing_balance_withoutfl" >>/home/rock64/log.txt;
    echo "bal is $bal after if else" >>/home/rock64/log.txt

done
}

logs when sudo crontab -e used with 55 8 * * * source /home/rock64/.bashrc; /home/rock64/light.sh > /home/rock64/both.log 2>&1>

check_existing_balance_withoutfl is 0
bal is 0 after if else
There is not enough balance in the node T Address 
check_existing_balance_withoutfl is 0
check_existing_balance_withoutfl is 0
bal is 0 after if else

If I run the script not from crontab, everything works normal as usual.

$ check_existing_balance_withoutfl=$(zen-cli z_gettotalbalance | grep total | tr -d '," ' | cut -d ':' -f2 | tr -d '.' | bc)
rock64@cheese:~$ echo $check_existing_balance_withoutfl
498

Why bal is not 498 then, when it was executed from cron? I have literally no idea, what is wrong I am doing.

After looking at the bash -x log as suggested by @Marcel, it seems, I found the problem. Since, I put my script in sudo crontab -e, it was referring to a config file in /home/root/.zen directory, so for the zend client I had to replace all zen-cli lines with zen-cli -conf=/home/user/.zen/zen.conf in my script. Same applies to bitcoind, if someone ever wants to put bitcoin-cli in crontab to check some specific transactions or whatever.

Answer 1

After looking at the bash -x log as suggested by @Marcel, it seems, I found the problem.

Since, I put my script in sudo crontab -e, it was referring to a config file in /home/root/.zen directory.

So for the zend client to work under sudo crontab -e or /etc/crontab I had to replace all zen-cli lines with zen-cli -conf=/home/<yourusername>/.zen/zen.conf in my script. Same applies to bitcoind,

Do not use $USER in <yourusername> since it will be root under sudo crontab -e, so rather use the full name of the user or specify in a variable for the username.

If someone ever wants to use bitcoin-cli in sudo crontab -e to check some specific transactions or something that requires password during system bootup or any other functions, you can replace

bitcoin-cli with bitcoin-cli -conf=/home/<yourusername>/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

So, for example to check latest block instead of doing

bitcoin-cli getblockcount do:

bitcoin-cli -conf=/home/<yourusername>/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf getblockcount