Cron Job Every 2 Hours (Crontab)

This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 2 hours.

The Cron Job/Crontab

To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:

0 */2 * * *

This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):

“Every 2 hours.”

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.

Each user has their own crontab file, and the commands in this file are only executed by that particular user. The file contains instructions for the cron daemon. To edit your crontab file, you can use the crontab command.

Cron Fields

Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 2 hours“:

Field 1: (0) indicates that the task will be run at minute 0.

Field 2: (*/2) indicates that the task will be run every 2 hours.

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: If you need to temporarily disable a cron job, you can simply comment out the line in the crontab file that corresponds to that particular task..

Use Cases

You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 2 hours for several reasons, including:

• Automatically backing up a database
• Generating reports
• Checking for system updates
• Sending out reminders

Similar Cron Jobs

You might also want to run a crontab:

• every 7 hours
• every 2 hours
• every 3 hours
• every 10 hours
• every 11 hours
• every 4 hours at 50 minutes past the hour
• every 8 hours at 40 minutes past the hour
• every 3 hours at 30 minutes past the hour

FUN FACT: Cron jobs are named after the Greek god Chronos, who represents time itself..

Wrapping Up

In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 2 hours. 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.