Cron Job Every Minute Between 1:00 am & 4:00 am (Crontab)

This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every minute between 1:00 am and 4:00 am.

The Cron Job/Crontab

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

* 1-4 * * *

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

“Every minute between 1:00 am and 4:00 am.”

What is a Cron Job & Crontab?

A cron job is a time-based task that is typically set up to run automatically at regular intervals. For example, a cron job might be used to send out a daily email report or to back up files every night.

A crontab is a file that contains instructions for the cron daemon. The cron daemon is a program that runs in the background and executes tasks at specified times. A crontab file typically contains a list of commands, with each command being executed at a specified time.

Cron Fields

Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every minute between 1:00 am and 4:00 am“:

Field 1: (*) indicates that the task will be run every minute.

Field 2: (1-4) indicates that the task will be run between hours 1 and 4 (1 am to 4 am).

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 can be set up to run at specific times, or they can be configured to run periodically (e.g., every hour)..

Use Cases

You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every minute between 1:00 am and 4:00 am for several reasons, including:

• Automatically backing up databases
• Generating reports
• Sending out reminder emails
• Updating software

Similar Cron Jobs

You might also want to run a crontab:

• every 23 minutes
• every 14 minutes
• every 15 minutes
• every 10 minutes
• every 28 minutes
• every 20 minutes
• every minute between 9:00 am and 10:00 am
• every minute between 4:00 am and 2:00 pm
• every minute between 3:00 am and 1:00 pm

FUN FACT: Cron jobs are stored in a file called “crontab”, which is short for “cron table”..

Wrapping Up

In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every minute between 1:00 am and 4:00 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 crontab cheat sheet for a list of hundreds of popular cron jobs.