This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 12 hours at 20 minutes past the hour.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
20 */12 * * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 12 hours at 20 minutes past the hour.”
What is a Cron Job & Crontab?
A cron job is a time-based task that is set to run at a specific interval. For example, a cron job could be set to run every day at midnight in order to update a database or send out nightly emails. Cron jobs are typically used for maintenance tasks that need to be performed regularly.
A crontab is a file that contains commands to be run at specified times. The crontab file is typically edited using the crontab command, which can be used to list, edit, or delete the contents of the file.
Cron Fields
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 12 hours at 20 minutes past the hour“:
FUN FACT: Cron jobs are automated processes that run on a schedule..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 12 hours at 20 minutes past the hour for several reasons, including:
- Check for new software updates
- Run a virus scan
- Perform system maintenance tasks
- Generate reports
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 2 hours
- every 6 hours
- every 11 hours
- every 9 hours
- every 12 hours
- every 5 hours
- every 4 hours at 30 minutes past the hour
- every hour between 7:00 am and 9:00 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 12 hours at 20 minutes past the hour. 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 crontab cheat sheet for a list of hundreds of popular cron jobs.