This page will help you quickly and easily set up a cron job to run every 5 hours.
The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 */5 * * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 5 hours.”
What is a Cron Job & Crontab?
A cron job is a time-based task that is set to run at specific intervals. This can be anything from running a backup script every night to sending out an email notification once a week. Cron jobs are typically used for maintenance or repetitive tasks.
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 5 hours“:
FUN FACT: Cron jobs are named after the Greek god of time, Chronos – so now you know where the name comes from!.
Use Cases
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 5 hours for several reasons, including:
- A script that checks for updates to a software repository
- A script that sends out an email reminder 5 hours before an event
- A script that cleans up temporary files older than 5 hours
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 12 hours
- every 5 hours
- every 8 hours
- every 3 hours
- every hour between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm
- every hour between 1:00 am and 5:00 pm
FUN FACT: Cron is one of the most versatile tools in a Linux administrator’s toolbox..
Wrapping Up
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 5 hours. 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.
