This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 3 days at 5:00 pm.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 17 */3 * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 3 days at 5:00 pm.”
What is a Cron Job & Crontab?
A cron job is a Linux utility used for scheduling the execution of commands or scripts at a specified time and date. Cron is typically used for system maintenance or administration, such as running backups or log rotation.
A crontab is a text file that contains a list of commands to be run at specified times. The commands in the crontab are executed by the cron daemon, which runs on most Unix-like systems.
Cron Fields
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 3 days at 5:00 pm“:
FUN FACT: One common use for cron jobs is to send out email reminders or notifications based on certain events (such as an upcoming deadline)..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 3 days at 5:00 pm for several reasons, including:
- update a blog
- send out a newsletter
- tweet an announcement
- post to Facebook
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
FUN FACT: When configuring a cron job, you can specify the minute, hour, day of the month, month and day of the week when it should run – this gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of when your task will be performed automatically!.
Wrapping Up
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 3 days at 5:00 pm. 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.