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Unix / Linux Job Automation “crontab” Tips

Posted on March 20, 2009 By XceptN No Comments on Unix / Linux Job Automation “crontab” Tips

Below are the tips I keep in mind with respect to crontab file format / configuration on Linux and Unix systems.
  • crontab file line layout is:

minute hour day month dayofweek command

  • For any one of columns you can use a “*” to match every instance

e.g. * for hour column means every hour (at the exact specified minutes)

  • For any one of columns you can use more than one value comma separated

e.g. 1,3,25 is 1,3 or 25 matched

  • For any one of columns you can use range of values with hyphen “-”

e.g. 4-7 is 4,5,6,7

  • For any one of columns you can define steps.

e.g. */3 in for “day” means once in every three days

  • For any one of columns you can combine ranges and values

e.g. 1-3,7,9-12 is actually 1,2,3,7,9,10,11,12

  • For any one of “minute hour day month dayofweek” you can define steps in custom ranges

e.g. 2-11/3 is actually 2,5,8,11

For more information you can check the manpages below:

  • man crontab ~ for the command usage
  • man 5 crontab ~ for the file format & configuration

linux, sysadm

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