Cron Jobs in Linux: Schedule Tasks with crontab

Automate repetitive tasks with crontab on Linux — backups, monitoring, and maintenance scripts.

Step 1: Edit Crontab

Run crontab -e to open the cron editor for the current user.

Step 2: Understand Cron Syntax

Format: minute hour day month weekday command. Example: 0 2 * * * = daily at 2 AM.

Step 3: List and Verify Cron Jobs

Use crontab -l to list active jobs. Check logs at /var/log/syslog.

# Every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * /path/to/script.sh

Terminal screenshots are original illustrations created for Gnome IT Solutions (blog.gnomeitsolutions.com).