crontab - Run a cron job every 5 minutes between two times

15
2014-01
  • pythonic metaphor

    Is there a way to specify a job that runs every 5 minutes between some start time and some end time on business days in a crontab?

    Update I think it's relevant that my start and end times are not at round hours. So, specifying 9-5 in the hour column isn't enough. I want 9:30-17:30.

    • Answers
  • Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

    You'll have to do it piecewise:

    30-59/5 9 * * * script.sh
*/5 10-16 * * * script.sh
0-30/5 17 * * * script.sh

    • Related Question

    crontab - Run a command every week with Cron?
  • igul222

    Simple question- what would a crontab entry look like for a command I want to run every week on Saturday at 8:05 AM?


    • Related Answers
  • John T

    That should do it:

    5 8 * * 6 <user> <command>

    documentation (man 5 crontab):

                  field          allowed values
              -----          --------------
              minute         0-59
              hour           0-23
              day of month   1-31
              month          1-12 (or names, see below)
              day of week    0-7 (0 or 7 is Sun, or use names)
  • James Wald

    Sat 8:05AM run find

    # Minute   Hour   Day of Month       Month          Day of Week        Command    
# (0-59)  (0-23)     (1-31)    (1-12 or Jan-Dec)  (0-6 or Sun-Sat)                
    5       8          *             *                Sat              /usr/bin/find
  • John T

    These answers are all correct, if you are unaware of how to use cron in the future, use one of many cron generators.

  • Dewayne Christensen

    From extensive investigation of "man 5 crontab", it looks like this'll do the trick:

    5 8 * * sat /usr/bin/man 5 crontab

  • Citizen 
    5     8     *     *     6         *your command*
  • flypen

    You can also do like this:

    Change crontab:

    5 8    * * *   <user>   cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily

    And put all your command scripts in this directory /etc/cron.daily. Make sure that you have added the execution rights for them.