Command Line Error

I wrote a really simple 11 or 12 line PHP script to remove old entries from a web card application I made: <? $todays_date=DATE("Y-m-d"); $username="user"; $password="password"; $database="database"; mysql_connect(localhost,$username,$password); @mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database"); $query = "DELETE FROM webcardtable WHERE date_to_be_deleted LIKE '$todays_date'"; mysql_query($query); mysql_close(); ?> When this is run from the web it works fine. I wanted it on a CRON ---- then the expired entries are removed automatically. Take a look at this line: $todays_date=DATE("Y-m-d"); When it is ran from the command line this line causes the script to give these error messages: /home/actsmin/actsministries-www/webcards/administration/daily_maintenance.p hp3: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token `DATE("' /home/actsmin/actsministries-www/webcards/administration/daily_maintenance.p hp3: line 3: `$todays_date = DATE("Y-m-d");' Any idea why the command line can't deal with but the http:// version works just fine? Ron