The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
20 */8 * * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 8 hours at 20 minutes past the hour.”
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 commonly used to automate system maintenance or administration tasks, such as running backups or sending emails.
Crontab is a file that contains commands and instructions for the cron daemon to execute. The crontab file is usually located in the /etc/cron directory. Each user on a system can have their own crontab file. The commands in the crontab files are executed by the cron daemon at the specified times.
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 8 hours at 20 minutes past the hour“:
FUN FACT: When configuring a cron job, you can specify the minute, hour, day of the month, month and day of the week when it should run – this gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of when your task will be performed automatically!.
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 8 hours at 20 minutes past the hour for several reasons, including:
- A cron job that updates a search index every 8 hours
- A cron job that sends out daily reminders at 20 minutes past the hour
- A cron job that backups a database every 8 hours
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 8 hours
- every 2 hours
- every 1 hour
- every 10 hours
- every hour between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm
- every 2 hours at 10 minutes past the hour
- every hour between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm
FUN FACT: Cron is typically used for things like system maintenance tasks, running backups etc..
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 8 hours at 20 minutes past the hour. 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.