This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 5 days at 8:00 am.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 8 */5 * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 5 days at 8:00 am.”
What is a Cron Job & Crontab?
In computing, a cron job is a time-based task that is set to run at certain predetermined times or intervals. A cron job can be used to schedule anything from basic tasks like running backups to more complex tasks like sending out email alerts or syncing files between servers. Cron jobs are typically used for maintenance or administrative tasks that need to be performed on a regular basis.
Crontab files are typically stored in the /etc/crontab file, but they can also be stored in individual user’s home directories. To edit your own crontab file, you can use the command “crontab -e”. This will open up the file in your default text editor.
Cron Fields
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 5 days at 8:00 am“:
FUN FACT: When troubleshooting issues with cron jobs, it can be helpful to run them manually from the command line – this will allow you to see any error messages that might be generated..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 5 days at 8:00 am for several reasons, including:
- Checking for updates to a software package
- Running a daily backup script
- Sending out a daily email report
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 2 days
- every 1 day
- every 6 days
- every 8 days
- every 10 days
- every 1 day at 12:30 am
- every 6 days at 3:00 pm
- every 10 days at 12:00 pm
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 5 days at 8:00 am. 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.