cron-jobs.md

Cron Jobs

Sometimes you'll have a script that you want to run at preset intervals. For example, maybe you want to clean up all the old screenshots on your desktop once a week. You can use cron jobs to automate these repetitive tasks.

• crontab -l: List the cron jobs for the current user
• crontab -e: Edit the list of cron jobs for the current user

Cron Job Format

* * * * * command to execute

Each * represents a value, listed in order here:

• Minute (0 - 59)
• Hour (0 - 23)
• Day of month (1 - 31)
• Month (1 - 12)
• Day of week (0 - 6 (where 0 is Sunday), or SUN - SAT)

Examples

Execute a script every minute

* * * * * ./runScript.sh

Execute a script every 5 minutes

*/5 * * * * ./runScript.sh

Execute a script every Sunday at 10:30AM

30 10 * * 0 ./runScript.sh

Resources

• OSTechNix: A Beginner's Guide To Cron Jobs