CronDrive

Cron every 6 hours

0 */6 * * *

Change the time zone to see when it runs on your server.

It's 19:57 there now (UTC+00:00).

Which time zone do I choose?

The time zone of the server where the crontab runs, which may not be yours. To see it, run this on the server:

timedatectl | grep "Time zone"

If the crontab sets CRON_TZ, choose that one.

Every 6 hours

0 minute
*/6 hour
* day
* month
* weekday

Next runs (UTC)

  1. Sat 17 Oct, 00:00
  2. Sat 17 Oct, 06:00
  3. Sat 17 Oct, 12:00
  4. Sat 17 Oct, 18:00
  5. Sun 18 Oct, 00:00
  6. Sun 18 Oct, 06:00
  7. Sun 18 Oct, 12:00
  8. Sun 18 Oct, 18:00
  9. Mon 19 Oct, 00:00
  10. Mon 19 Oct, 06:00

Know when it doesn't run

CronDrive emails you, or posts to Slack, when a job with this schedule fails, or doesn't start or finish on time. Free for up to 15 jobs.

What you'd see with this schedule

An example with the last runs of this schedule and made-up results: one failed and one didn't run.

Times in UTC.

Due
Friday 16 October 2026
12:00 On time Started 12:00, finished 12:13, took 13 min.
06:00 Didn't run Alerts sent at 06:05 and 06:30.
00:00 On time Started 00:00, finished 00:14, took 14 min.
Thursday 15 October 2026
18:00 Failed with code 1 Alert sent at 18:04. Started 18:00, finished 18:04, took 4 min.
12:00 On time Started 12:00, finished 12:13, took 13 min.
06:00 On time Started 06:00, finished 06:14, took 14 min.

The alert of the failed run

Email from CronDrive, Thu 15 Oct, 18:04

Failed (exit code 1): "Your job"

The job "Your job" failed with exit code 1.

If you connect Slack, the same message goes to your channel.

The change in your crontab

0 */6 * * * curl -fsS -m 10 https://job.crondrive.com/uG2Exw/start/$$; /path/to/job.sh; curl -fsS -m 10 https://job.crondrive.com/uG2Exw/end/$?/$$

Two calls around your command, in the same line. Your job's line comes with its own token.

Monitor this schedule

Format

Cron is driven by a crontab (cron table) file, a configuration file that specifies shell commands to run periodically on a given schedule. On Linux you can run crontab -e to edit it.

Each line has a cron expression made of five fields, followed by a shell command to execute. A * means every value; 1,5 is a list, 1-5 a range and */5 a step.

* minute 0-59
* hour 0-23
* day 1-31
* month 1-12
* weekday 0-6, Sunday is 0

Examples

Expression Description
* * * * * Every minute
*/5 * * * * Every 5 minutes
*/10 * * * * Every 10 minutes
*/15 * * * * Every 15 minutes
*/30 * * * * Every 30 minutes
0 * * * * Every hour
0 */2 * * * Every 2 hours
0 */6 * * * Every 6 hours
0 */12 * * * Every 12 hours
0 0 * * * Every day at 00:00
0 8 * * 1-5 At 08:00 on Monday through Friday
0 0 * * 1 At 00:00 on Monday
0 0 * * 0 At 00:00 on Sunday
0 0 1 * * At 00:00 on day 1 of the month
0 */8 * * * Every 8 hours
1,5 * * * * At minutes 1 and 5 of every hour
1-5 * * * * At minutes 1 through 5 of every hour
0 2 * * * Every day at 02:00
0 1 * * 1,2 At 01:00 on Monday and Tuesday
30 9-17 * * 1-5 Every hour from 09:30 to 17:30 on Monday through Friday
0 0 */5 * * At 00:00 every 5 days