This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 3 months on day 2 of the month.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 0 2 */3 *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 3 months on day 2 of the month.”
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 3 months on day 2 of the month“:
FUN FACT: If you want to edit your personal crontab, just type: “crontab -e” at the command prompt..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 3 months on day 2 of the month for several reasons, including:
- Checking for updates to a software package
- Generating monthly reports
- Purging old data from a database
- Sending out reminder emails
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 2 months
- every 6 months
- every 1 month
- every 3 months
- every 5 months on day 17 of the month
- every 3 months on day 18 of the month
FUN FACT: Cron jobs can be used to automate just about any task that needs to be performed regularly – so get creative and see what you can come up with!.
Wrapping Up
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 3 months on day 2 of the month. 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.