~/devtools / cron / every-5-minutes
tool::cron-guide

cron every-5-minutes

*/5 * * * *

Every 5 Minutes

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Field Breakdown
*/5
Minute (0–59)
every 5
*
Hour (0–23)
any
*
Day of Month (1–31)
any
*
Month (1–12)
any
*
Day of Week (0–6)
any
0–59
0–23
1–31
1–12
0–6 (Sun–Sat)

Runs at minutes 0, 5, 10, 15 … 55 using the step syntax */5. Produces 288 executions per day — a good middle ground between real-time and hourly processing. Ideal for API polling within rate limits.

Next 5 Executions (Example)
UTC example times after 2026-01-01
#1Thu, Jan 1, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC
#2Thu, Jan 1, 2026, 12:05 AM UTC
#3Thu, Jan 1, 2026, 12:10 AM UTC
#4Thu, Jan 1, 2026, 12:15 AM UTC
#5Thu, Jan 1, 2026, 12:20 AM UTC

Platform Usage

Linux Crontab— Run crontab -e and add the line
# crontab -e
*/5 * * * * /path/to/script.sh
# With logging:
*/5 * * * * /path/to/script.sh >> /var/log/myjob.log 2>&1
Kubernetes CronJob— Set in spec.schedule field
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: my-cronjob
spec:
  schedule: "*/5 * * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: my-job
            image: my-image:latest
          restartPolicy: OnFailure
GitHub Actions— Add to on.schedule trigger
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/5 * * * *'

jobs:
  my-job:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: ./my-script.sh

Common Use Cases

  • ▸Polling external APIs (weather, exchange rates)
  • ▸Short-TTL cache invalidation
  • ▸Error log alert checks
  • ▸Small-scale batch processing
  • ▸Data pipeline input checks

Related Presets

* * * * *every minute→*/10 * * * *every 10 minutes→*/15 * * * *every 15 minutes→*/30 * * * *every 30 minutes→
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