All Cron Schedules
Cron Every 5 Minutes
Run a job every 5 minutes using the cron expression:
*/5 * * * *
Runs at minutes 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55
Understanding the Expression
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | */5 | Every 5th minute |
| Hour | * | Every hour |
| Day of month | * | Every day |
| Month | * | Every month |
| Day of week | * | Every day of the week |
Example Usage
Basic crontab entry
*/5 * * * * /path/to/your/script.shWith logging
*/5 * * * * /path/to/script.sh >> /var/log/script.log 2>&1With monitoring
*/5 * * * * /path/to/script.sh && curl -fsS https://api.cronsignal.io/ping/YOUR_CHECK_IDCommon Use Cases
- Health checks: Ping external services or run connectivity tests
- Queue processing: Process pending jobs from a queue
- Cache updates: Refresh frequently-changing data
- Metrics collection: Gather system stats for monitoring
- Sync jobs: Keep data synchronized between systems
Variations
Every 5 minutes during business hours
*/5 9-17 * * 1-5Runs every 5 minutes from 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday.
Every 5 minutes, offset by 2
2-57/5 * * * *Runs at minutes 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, etc. Useful to avoid the "thundering herd" at minute 0.
Monitoring Tips
Jobs that run every 5 minutes are high-frequency and critical to catch early if they fail. Set your monitoring with:
- Schedule: Every 5 minutes
- Grace period: 2-3 minutes
This way you'll know within minutes if something breaks, not hours later.
Monitor your 5-minute jobs
High-frequency jobs fail frequently. Get alerted within minutes when they stop running.
Start Monitoring Free3 checks free. No credit card required.