The Cron Job/Crontab
To have your task run at this frequency, use the following cron:
30 20 */8 * *
This cron command translates to the following (in Human-Readable format):
“Every 8 days at 8:30 pm.”
What is a Cron Job & Crontab?
A cron job is a task that is scheduled to run at a specific time or interval. Cron is a Linux utility that enables users to schedule tasks to be executed automatically at a specified time or interval. A cron job is typically used to automate system maintenance or administration tasks, such as running backups or sending emails.
Crontab is a file that contains instructions for the cron daemon. The cron daemon is a program that runs in the background and executes tasks at specified times. The crontab file is used to specify which tasks are to be run and when they are to be run.
Every cron job uses five fields. Here is an explanation of what each field does in this cron, which runs “every 8 days at 8:30 pm“:
FUN FACT: A common use for cron jobs is to generate periodic reports – for example, you could set up a cron job to automatically generate and send out a report on website traffic statistics every week..
You might want to set up a crontab or cron job to run every 8 days at 8:30 pm for several reasons, including:
- Running a backup
- Checking for system updates
- Generating reports
- Sending email notifications
- Cleaning up temporary files
Similar Cron Jobs
You might also want to run a crontab:
- every 7 days
- every 9 days
- every 10 days
- every 3 days
- every 4 days
- every 2 days at 11:30 pm
- every 2 days at 3:00 pm
- every 2 days at 8:30 pm
FUN FACT: If you need to temporarily disable a cron job, you can simply comment out the line in the crontab file that corresponds to that particular task..
In this article, you learned how to set up a cron job that runs every 8 days at 8:30 pm. 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.