This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every hour between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 16-20 * * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every hour between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm.”
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.
The crontab is a file that contains instructions for the cron daemon. The crontab is typically edited using 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 hour between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm“:
FUN FACT: Cron jobs are stored in a file called “crontab”, which is short for “cron table”..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every hour between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm for several reasons, including:
- Checking the status of a long-running process
- Sending out a reminder email
- Generating a report
- Updating a database
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 2 hours
- every 11 hours
- every 1 hour
- every 5 hours
- every 8 hours
- every 12 hours
- every hour between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm
- every hour between 12:00 pm and 9:00 pm
FUN FACT: Cron is one of the most versatile tools in a Linux administrator’s toolbox..
Wrapping Up
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every hour between 4:00 pm and 8:00 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.