This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 2 days at 3:00 am.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 3 */2 * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 2 days at 3:00 am.”
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 files are typically stored in the /etc/crontab file, but they can also be stored in individual user’s home directories. To edit your own crontab file, you can use the command “crontab -e”. This will open up the file in your default text editor.
Cron Fields
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 2 days at 3:00 am“:
FUN FACT: One common use for cron jobs is to send out email reminders or notifications based on certain events (such as an upcoming deadline)..
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 2 days at 3:00 am for several reasons, including:
- Run a backup of all user data every 2 days
- Calculate and send out monthly reports on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month
- Check for updates to third-party software every 2 days
- Send out a reminder email to users who have not logged in for 7 days
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 1 day
- every 9 days
- every 5 days
- every 4 days
- every 2 days
- every 2 days at 6:30 pm
- every 3 days at 2:30 pm
FUN FACT: Cron jobs are used to schedule commands or scripts to run automatically at a specified time and date..
Wrapping Up
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 2 days at 3:00 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 cron job cheat sheet for a list of hundreds of popular cron jobs.
