Cron Job Every 5 Months (Crontab)

This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 5 months.

The Cron Job/Crontab

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

0 0 1 */5 *

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

“Every 5 months.”

What is a Cron Job & Crontab?

A cron job is a task that is scheduled to run at a specific time or interval. Cron is a Linux utility that allows tasks to be automatically run in the background at regular intervals. These tasks are often called “cron jobs.”

A crontab is a file that contains a list of commands that are to be executed at specified times. The commands in the crontab are executed by the cron daemon.

Cron Fields

Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 5 months“:

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

Field 2: (0) indicates that the task will be run at hour 0 (12 am).

Field 3: (1) indicates that the task will be run on day 1 of every month.

Field 4: (*/5) indicates that the task will be run every 5 months.

Field 5: (*) indicates that the task will be run every day of the week.

 

FUN FACT: When editing your crontab, it is important to use a text editor that supports Unix-style line endings (LF), as opposed to Windows-style line endings (CRLF)..

Use Cases

You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 5 months for several reasons, including:

• Checking for updates to a software application
• Deleting temporary files that are no longer needed
• Generating reports on system usage
• Sending out reminders for upcoming events
• Backing up data

Similar Cron Jobs

You might also want to run a crontab:

• every 1 month
• every 4 months
• every 2 months
• every 6 months
• every 4 months on day 6 of the month
• every 5 months on day 9 of the month
• every 6 months on day 7 of the month

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)..

Wrapping Up

In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 5 months. 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.