howto run a script from cron every 5 minutes except 11pm-8am

['chris']

hi

howto run a script from cron every 5 minutes except 11pm-8am ?

kind regards
chris

[harry d brown jr · Accepted solution]

1,6,11,16,21,26,31,36,41,46,51,56 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 * * * cmd

live free or die
harry d brown jr

['chris']

or is it correct like this:

*/5 8-22 * * * /path/to/the/script

?

[Mic V.]

The 8-22 part will be fine. I've never seen syntax like */5. It sure would be nice if that worked! Saves a lot of hassle.

From the man page:

Each pattern can be either an asterisk (*), meaning all legal values, or a list of elements separated by
commas. An element is either a number in the ranges shown above, or two numbers in the range
separated by a hyphen (meaning an inclusive range). Note that the specification of days can be made in
two fields: monthday and weekday. If both are specified in an entry, they are cumulative.

Mic

[Patrick Wallek]

The */5 is a Linux thing and does NOT work in HP-UX.

The responses the others have given will work.

['chris']

thanks !

[Ross Minkov]

I know */5 works in Linux for sure. Don't know about HP-UX... Another way to write the same (every 5 minutes) in Linux is 0-59/5. It's easy to test...

Regards,
Ross

[Greg OBarr]

You could also just run it every 5 minutes and have the script check the time when it runs. If the hour is within range, continue the script. If the hour is out of range, exit and do nothing.