The colon character ( : ) is used as a delimiter as well as a comment character. To comment out an inittab entry, add : at the beginning of the entry.

Syntax:

:Identifier:RunLevel:Action:Command

Example:

Before (comment out)
——————–
labserver:/ # cat /etc/inittab |grep -i xmdaily
xmdaily:2:once:/usr/bin/topasrec -L -s 300 -R 1 -r 6 -o /etc/perf/daily/ -ypersistent=1 2>&1 >/dev/null #Start local binary recording
labserver:/ #

After (comment out)
——————-
labserver:/ # cat /etc/inittab |grep -i xmdaily
:xmdaily:2:once:/usr/bin/topasrec -L -s 300 -R 1 -r 6 -o /etc/perf/daily/ -ypersistent=1 2>&1 >/dev/null #Start local binary recording
labserver:/ #