Cron Basics
Scheduling tasks with cron.
Cron Commands
Edit crontab
crontab -e
List cron jobs
crontab -l
Remove all cron jobs
crontab -r
Edit for specific user
sudo crontab -u username -e
Cron Syntax
Format
* * * * * command
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ └─ Day of week (0-7, Sun=0 or 7)
│ │ │ └─── Month (1-12)
│ │ └───── Day of month (1-31)
│ └─────── Hour (0-23)
└───────── Minute (0-59)
Common Patterns
Every minute
* * * * * command
Every hour
0 * * * * command
Every day at midnight
0 0 * * * command
Every Sunday at 3am
0 3 * * 0 command
Every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * command
Special Strings
At reboot
@reboot command
Daily
@daily command
Weekly
@weekly command
Monthly
@monthly command
Yearly
@yearly command