Crontab Cheat Sheet 2025: 50+ ตัวอย่าง Cron Expression ที่ใช้จริง

Whether you are scheduling backups, automating deployments, or running periodic cleanup scripts, cron is the backbone of task scheduling on Unix/Linux systems. This cheat sheet gives you 50+ copy-paste cron expression examples organized by frequency, plus crontab commands, platform differences, and common gotchas.

1. Cron Expression Syntax

A standard cron expression consists of 5 fields separated by spaces. Each field controls when the job runs:

┌───────────── Minute (0–59)
│ ┌─────────── Hour (0–23)
│ │ ┌───────── Day of Month (1–31)
│ │ │ ┌─────── Month (1–12 or JAN–DEC)
│ │ │ │ ┌───── Day of Week (0–7 or SUN–SAT, 0 and 7 = Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *  command_to_execute

The command to execute follows the five fields. Use our Cron Generator tool to build expressions visually.

2. Special Characters Explained

Cron uses four special characters to define schedules beyond fixed values:

3. 50+ Cron Expression Examples

The tables below cover the most commonly needed cron schedules. Each expression is ready to copy and paste into your crontab.

Every X Minutes

Hourly Schedules

Daily Schedules

Weekly Schedules

Monthly Schedules

Yearly / Quarterly Schedules

Business & DevOps Schedules

4. Crontab Commands Quick Reference

The crontab command manages per-user cron job files. Here are the essential commands:

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# List all cron jobs
crontab -l

# Backup current crontab to a file
crontab -l > my-crontab-backup.txt

# Install crontab from a file
crontab my-crontab-backup.txt

# Remove all cron jobs (careful!)
crontab -r

5. Platform-Specific Cron Syntax

Cron syntax varies slightly across platforms. Here are the key differences you need to know:

# Standard 5-field crontab
*/5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * 1-5'  # Weekdays 9AM UTC

# AWS EventBridge (6 fields, note the ?)
cron(0 9 ? * MON-FRI *)  # Weekdays 9AM UTC

# Kubernetes CronJob spec
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: daily-backup
spec:
  schedule: "0 2 * * *"
  timeZone: "America/New_York"  # K8s 1.27+

// vercel.json
{
  "crons": [{
    "path": "/api/cron/daily-report",
    "schedule": "0 9 * * *"
  }]
}

6. Cron Expression Gotchas

These are the most common mistakes developers make with cron schedules:

# Gotcha: overlapping runs - use flock to prevent
*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/flock -n /tmp/myjob.lock /path/to/script.sh

# Gotcha: environment - always use full paths
0 2 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/user/scripts/backup.py >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

# Gotcha: 30-second workaround (two entries)
* * * * * /path/to/script.sh
* * * * * sleep 30 && /path/to/script.sh

# Gotcha: PATH not set - define it at the top of your crontab
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

# Gotcha: percent signs (%) must be escaped in crontab
# Wrong:
0 0 * * * echo "Today is $(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
# Correct:
0 0 * * * echo "Today is $(date +\%Y-\%m-\%d)"

Sample Crontab File

Here is a complete, real-world crontab file combining several patterns discussed above:

# =============================================
# Crontab for: webserver (production)
# Last updated: 2025-01-15
# =============================================

# Environment
SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
MAILTO="ops-team@example.com"

# --- BACKUPS ---
# Full database backup at 2:00 AM daily
0 2 * * * /usr/bin/flock -n /tmp/db-backup.lock /opt/scripts/db-backup.sh >> /var/log/db-backup.log 2>&1

# Incremental file backup every 6 hours
0 */6 * * * /opt/scripts/file-backup.sh >> /var/log/file-backup.log 2>&1

# --- MAINTENANCE ---
# Clear temp files older than 7 days, daily at 3 AM
0 3 * * * /usr/bin/find /tmp -type f -mtime +7 -delete

# Rotate application logs every Sunday at 4 AM
0 4 * * 0 /opt/scripts/rotate-logs.sh >> /var/log/log-rotation.log 2>&1

# --- MONITORING ---
# Health check every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * /opt/scripts/healthcheck.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

# SSL certificate expiry check daily at 6 AM
0 6 * * * /opt/scripts/check-ssl.sh

# Disk space alert if usage > 90%, every hour
0 * * * * /opt/scripts/disk-alert.sh

# --- REPORTS ---
# Send daily summary at 8 AM on weekdays
0 8 * * 1-5 /opt/scripts/daily-report.sh

# Monthly analytics report on the 1st at 9 AM
0 9 1 * * /opt/scripts/monthly-report.sh

7. Testing and Debugging Cron

Before deploying a cron job to production, verify that it does what you expect:

# Redirect all output to a log file
0 2 * * * /path/to/backup.sh >> /var/log/cron-backup.log 2>&1

# Disable cron mail for this job
0 2 * * * /path/to/backup.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

# Set MAILTO at the top of crontab
MAILTO=""
# Or send to a real address
MAILTO="admin@example.com"

# Check cron logs on Debian/Ubuntu
grep CRON /var/log/syslog | tail -20

# Check cron logs on CentOS/RHEL
grep CRON /var/log/cron | tail -20

# On systems using journald (systemd)
journalctl -u cron --since "1 hour ago"

# Quick test: add a job that writes to a file
# Then check if the file gets updated
* * * * * echo "cron works: $(date)" >> /tmp/cron-test.log

# Verify your crontab was saved correctly
crontab -l | grep -v '^#'

# Check if cron daemon is running
systemctl status cron    # Debian/Ubuntu
systemctl status crond   # CentOS/RHEL

Common Cron Debugging Checklist

8. Frequently Asked Questions