The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
0 8 */6 * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 6 days at 8:00 am.”
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 script every hour to backing up a database every day. Cron jobs are typically used for maintenance tasks or tasks that need to be performed regularly, such as checking for updates or sending out reports.
A crontab is a table or list of commands that are scheduled to run at specified times. The commands in a crontab file (also called a “cron table”) are normally executed by the cron daemon, which runs in the background and executes these commands automatically.
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 6 days at 8:00 am“:
FUN FACT: Cron jobs can be used to automate just about any task that needs to be performed regularly – so get creative and see what you can come up with!.
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 6 days at 8:00 am for several reasons, including:
- To update software on a server
- To run a report that is needed every 6 days
- To clean up temporary files that accumulate over time
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 9 days
- every 8 days
- every 6 days
- every 2 days
- every 4 days
- every 5 days
- every 9 days at 1:00 pm
- every 10 days at 4:00 pm
- every 9 days at 10:00 am
FUN FACT: Each user on a system can have their own crontab, and commands in them will be executed as that user..
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 6 days at 8:00 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 crontab cheat sheet for a list of hundreds of popular cron jobs.