Crontab schedule monthly

Question

I would like to schedule my tasks every x months on day 1 starting for example, March. I am unsure if this is the syntax I'm looking for (for repeating the job every 4 months):

0 0 1 3/4 * /path/to/file

The man page for crontab does not explain in detail how the steps (/) work.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 15 '13 at 11:37

2

You have it correct in your comment to Abhishek's answer.

0 0 1 3,7,11 * /path/to/file

In this case the "/" won't do what you're after.

answered Feb 15 '13 at 11:37

John Gardeniers

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 16 '13 at 09:48

Just for completeness, it seems that you originally wanted to do this:

0 0 1 3-12/4 * /path/to/file

Just like with the other fields, if you want a month range, you have to specify both the start and the finish, separated by a dash. For every odd-numbered month, for example, you can use:

0 0 1 1-12/2 * /path/to/file

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 15 '13 at 11:20

0

Below is the syntax

0 0 1 */4 * /path/to/file

answered Feb 15 '13 at 11:20

Abhishek Anand Amralkar

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That will not work if I want to repeat every 4 months starting March. */4 => _1,5,9_, what I was wondering is if it is possible for it to expand to => _3,7,11_ – Octav O Feb 15 '13 at 11:28
You can do this 0 0 1 Mar,Jun * /path/to/script – Abhishek Anand Amralkar Feb 15 '13 at 11:34

Crontab schedule monthly

3 Answers3