Cron Job Every 7 Hours (Crontab)

This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 7 hours.

The Cron Job/Crontab

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

0 */7 * * *

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

“Every 7 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 typically used for system maintenance or administration tasks, such as backing up data or updating software.

Crontab is a file that contains commands and instructions for the cron daemon to execute. The crontab file is usually located in the /etc/cron directory. Each user on a system can have their own crontab file. The commands in the crontab files are executed by the cron daemon at the specified times.

Cron Fields

Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 7 hours“:

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

Field 2: (*/7) indicates that the task will be run every 7 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: Cron jobs are named after the Greek god of time, Chronos – so now you know where the name comes from!.

Use Cases

You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 7 hours for several reasons, including:

• Automatically check for updates to the operating system
• Automatically run a virus scan
• Automatically backup important files
• Automatically clean temporary files

Similar Cron Jobs

You might also want to run a crontab:

• every 5 hours
• every 12 hours
• every 10 hours
• every 4 hours
• every 1 hour
• every hour between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm
• every 3 hours at 50 minutes past the hour
• every hour between 3:00 pm and 6:00 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)..

Wrapping Up

In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 7 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 crontab cheat sheet for a list of hundreds of popular cron jobs.