Run Python files with Cron on Linux - Job Scheduling Guide

Learn to use cron to schedule jobs to run automatically at specific times and days on Linux systems.

Learn to use cron to schedule jobs to run automatically at specific times and days on Linux systems. Image by al17 on Freepik

A crontab file consists of lines — called cron jobs — which specify when to run what command. And so they consist of 2 parts:

• Scheduled times — This part consists of 5 parts that together determine when to run the cron job.
• Command to run — This is just a regular Linux command that will be run at the scheduled times.

How to set the scheduled times for cron jobs in a crontab file?

The scheduled time of a cron job is specified with 5 parts separated by spaces, for example: 0 7 25 12 *.

The parts have their own roles and specify:

• what minute to run (0–59)
• what hour to run (0–23)
• what day of the month to run (1–31)
• what month to run (1–12)
• what day of the week to run (0–6 where 0 is Sunday and 6 is Saturday)

The cron expression 0 7 25 12 * stands for 7:00 on the 25th of December.

Cron expression syntax