Crontab Every 5 Minutes: How to Schedule Tasks with Cron

To run a task every 5 minutes with cron, open your crontab with crontab -e and add the line */5 * * * * /home/alex/backup.sh >> /home/alex/backup.log 2>&1. The five fields are minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week; */5 in the minute field means “every 5 minutes”. Save and exit; cron picks up the change automatically. Check it with crontab -l.

Difficulty	Time	Works on	Needs
Beginner	10 minutes	Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04, Debian 12 / 13, AlmaLinux / Rocky 9 / 10	A user account; sudo for system jobs

Before you start

Connect with SSH.
cron is a background service that runs commands on a schedule. Each user has their own list of jobs, called a crontab.
Make sure cron is installed and running. Ubuntu and Debian call the service cron, AlmaLinux and Rocky call it crond (package cronie):

Ubuntu / Debian
AlmaLinux / Rocky

sudo apt install cron
sudo systemctl enable --now cron

sudo dnf install cronie
sudo systemctl enable --now crond

How to add a cron job

Open your crontab

crontab -e

The first time, Ubuntu and Debian may ask which editor to use. Choose nano if unsure.

Add a line at the bottom

*/5 * * * * /home/alex/backup.sh >> /home/alex/backup.log 2>&1

>> file 2>&1 saves the output and errors to a log so you can see what happened.

Save and exit

In nano press Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X. You see crontab: installing new crontab.

List your jobs

crontab -l

Make the script executable (chmod +x /home/alex/backup.sh) and give it a first line such as #!/bin/bash.

How to read the crontab syntax

*    *    *    *    *    command
│    │    │    │    │
│    │    │    │    └── day of week (0–7, 0 and 7 = Sunday, or sun–sat)
│    │    │    └─────── month (1–12 or jan–dec)
│    │    └──────────── day of month (1–31)
│    └───────────────── hour (0–23)
└────────────────────── minute (0–59)

Symbol	Meaning	Example
`*`	Every value	`*` in hour = every hour
`*/n`	Every n units	`*/15` in minute = every 15 minutes
`a,b`	A list	`1,15` in day = the 1st and 15th
`a-b`	A range	`1-5` in day of week = Monday to Friday

Crontab examples

Schedule	Line
Every minute	`* * * * * /path/to/script.sh`
Every 5 minutes	`/5 * * * /path/to/script.sh`
Every 15 minutes	`/15 * * * /path/to/script.sh`
Every hour, on the hour	`0 * * * * /path/to/script.sh`
Every 6 hours	`0 /6 * * /path/to/script.sh`
Every day at 03:30	`30 3 * * * /path/to/script.sh`
Every day at midnight	`0 0 * * * /path/to/script.sh`
Weekdays at 08:00	`0 8 * * 1-5 /path/to/script.sh`
Sundays at 04:00	`0 4 * * 0 /path/to/script.sh`
First day of each month	`0 2 1 * * /path/to/script.sh`
At every boot	`@reboot /path/to/script.sh`

Shortcuts also exist: @hourly, @daily, @weekly, @monthly and @yearly.

Times use the server’s time zone, which is often UTC on a new server. Check it with timedatectl and change it with set the time zone.

How to run a job as root (system cron)

Use root’s crontab with sudo crontab -e, or create a file in /etc/cron.d/. Files there have an extra user field before the command:

sudo nano /etc/cron.d/db-backup

SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
30 2 * * * root /usr/local/bin/db-backup.sh >> /var/log/db-backup.log 2>&1

On Debian and Ubuntu, file names in /etc/cron.d/ may only contain letters, digits, - and _. A name with a dot, such as backup.cron, is skipped. For scripts that only need “roughly daily”, drop an executable script into /etc/cron.daily/.

How to check it worked

Wait for the next run

For a 5-minute job, wait up to 5 minutes.

Look at your log file

tail /home/alex/backup.log

Check cron's own log

Ubuntu / Debian
AlmaLinux / Rocky

sudo journalctl -u cron --since "1 hour ago"

sudo journalctl -u crond --since "1 hour ago"

With rsyslog installed, cron also writes to /var/log/cron.

Each run appears as a CMD (...) line.

Why is my cron job not running?

Cause	Fix
Command works in the terminal but not in cron	cron uses a short `PATH`. Use full paths (`/usr/bin/php`, find them with `command -v php`) or set `PATH=` at the top of the crontab
`%` in the command	cron treats `%` as a new line. Escape it: `date +\%F`
Script isn’t executable	`chmod +x script.sh` and add `#!/bin/bash` as the first line
Environment variables missing	cron doesn’t read `~/.bashrc`. Set variables in the script or the crontab
Last line ignored	Make sure the crontab ends with a new line
Service not running	`systemctl status cron` (or `crond`)

Frequently asked questions

How do I run a cron job every 30 seconds?

cron’s smallest step is one minute. Use two lines, the second starting with sleep 30;, or use a systemd timer with OnUnitActiveSec=30s.

How do I delete a cron job?

Run crontab -e and delete the line. crontab -r removes your whole crontab without asking, so avoid it unless you mean it.

How do I stop cron emailing me?

Add MAILTO="" at the top of the crontab, or redirect output with >> /path/to/log 2>&1.

How do I stop a job from running twice at once?

Wrap it in flock: */5 * * * * flock -n /tmp/backup.lock /home/alex/backup.sh. If the previous run is still going, the new one exits.

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A job worth scheduling.

Set the time zone

Make cron run at the right hour.

Read logs with journalctl

Check that jobs ran.

Checked against the official Debian crontab(5) and cron(8) manuals and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 documentation on 4 November 2026; crontab commands tested on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Commands can differ on other distributions or releases.

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Last Updated: November 2026

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Crontab Every 5 Minutes: How to Schedule Tasks with Cron

Before you start

How to add a cron job

How to read the crontab syntax

Crontab examples

How to run a job as root (system cron)

How to check it worked

Why is my cron job not running?

Frequently asked questions

How do I run a cron job every 30 seconds?

How do I delete a cron job?

How do I stop cron emailing me?

How do I stop a job from running twice at once?

VPS and dedicated server guides

Create a systemd service

Back up a Linux server

Set the time zone

Read logs with journalctl

Need Extra Help?

Save on Your Hosting

​Before you start

​How to add a cron job

​How to read the crontab syntax

​Crontab examples

​How to run a job as root (system cron)

​How to check it worked

​Why is my cron job not running?

​Frequently asked questions

​How do I run a cron job every 30 seconds?

​How do I delete a cron job?

​How do I stop cron emailing me?

​How do I stop a job from running twice at once?

​Related guides

VPS and dedicated server guides

Create a systemd service

Back up a Linux server

Set the time zone

Read logs with journalctl

​Need Extra Help?

​Save on Your Hosting

Before you start

How to add a cron job

How to read the crontab syntax

Crontab examples

How to run a job as root (system cron)

How to check it worked

Why is my cron job not running?

Frequently asked questions

How do I run a cron job every 30 seconds?

How do I delete a cron job?

How do I stop cron emailing me?

How do I stop a job from running twice at once?

Related guides

Need Extra Help?

Save on Your Hosting