Cron Job Every Minute Between 4:00 pm & 8:00 pm (Crontab)

This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every minute between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm.

The Cron Job/Crontab

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

* 16-20 * * *

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

“Every minute 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 commonly used to automate system maintenance or administration tasks, such as running backups or sending emails.

A crontab is a text file containing a list of commands that are executed at specified times. The commands in the crontab are executed by the cron daemon, which runs in the background and checks for new entries every minute.

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 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm“:

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

Field 2: (16-20) indicates that the task will be run between hours 16 and 20 (4 pm to 8 pm).

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 used to schedule commands or scripts to run automatically at a specified time and date..

Use Cases

You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every minute between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm for several reasons, including:

• turning on lights at 4:00 pm
• checking the mailbox at 5:00 pm
• starting dinner at 6:00 pm
• watching a movie at 7:00 pm

Similar Cron Jobs

You might also want to run a crontab:

• every 5 minutes
• every 2 minutes
• every 25 minutes
• every 8 minutes
• every 24 minutes
• every minute between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm
• every minute between 5:00 am and 11:00 am

FUN FACT: Each user on a system can have their own crontab, and commands in them will be executed as that user..

Wrapping Up

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