This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every minute (every 60 seconds).
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run once per minute, use the following cron:
* * * * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every minute.”
What is a Cron Job & Crontab?
A cron job is a task that is scheduled to run at a specific time or interval. Cron jobs are commonly used to automate system maintenance or administration tasks, such as running backups or sending emails.
Crontab is a file that contains instructions for the cron daemon. The cron daemon is a program that runs in the background and executes tasks at specified times. The crontab file is used to specify which tasks are to be run and when they are to be run.
Cron Fields
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs minutely, or “every minute“:
- Field 1: (*) indicates that the task will be run every minute.
- Field 2: (*) indicates that the task will be run every hour.
- Field 3: (*) indicates that the task will be run every day of the month.
- Field 4: (*) indicates that the task will be run every month.
- Field 5: (*) indicates that the task will be run every day of the week.
FUN FACT: Cron jobs can be set up to run at specific times, or they can be configured to run periodically (e.g., every hour)..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every minute for several reasons, including:
- Scheduling a backup to run every minute
- Checking for new messages every minute
- Running a report every minute
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 26 minutes
- every 14 minutes
- every 5 minutes
- every 21 minutes
- every 29 minutes
- every minute between 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm
- every minute between 4:00 am and 1:00 pm
FUN FACT: When editing your crontab, it is important to use a text editor that supports Unix-style line endings (LF), as opposed to Windows-style line endings (CRLF)..
Wrapping Up
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every minute. Please share this page with friends and colleagues if you find it useful.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to comment below.
If you are looking for cron jobs that run at certain minutes, hours, days, weekdays, or months, or if you are looking for miscellaneous cron jobs, then check out our relevant sections, or visit our cron job cheat sheet for a list of hundreds of popular cron jobs.