run a cron job monthly

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This will run the command foo at 12:00AM on the first of every month 0 0 1 * * /usr/bin/foo This article describes the various fields, look to the bottom of the page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron To add this to your cron file, just use the command crontab -e shareimprove this answer answered Nov 23 '09 at 17:39 rzrgenesys187

1   that looks ok i guess – Ahmet vardar Nov 23 '09 at 17:42 can i type * instead of 0 ? – Ahmet vardar Nov 23 '09 at 17:44 8   If you typed * instead of the first zero it would run every minute of the first day of the month, if you typed * for the second zero it would run every hour on the first day of the month. *'s for both would run every minute of every hour on that day. – rzrgenesys187 Nov 23 '09 at 17:46 add a comment

up vote3down vote	use following: @monthly /home/user/backup.sh shareimprove this answer answered Sep 24 '12 at 19:32 alexus 4,60094095
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up vote2down vote	Will run /usr/bin/foo at 12:10am on the first day of the month. 10 0 1 * * /usr/bin/foo Will run /usr/bin/foo at 3:10am on every day. 10 3 * * * /usr/bin/foo See http://www.scrounge.org/linux/cron.html updated the crons, it was a copy paste error, thanks Joy Dutta! shareimprove this answer answered Nov 23 '09 at 17:30 powtac 2441414
	1   3:10am every day is 10 3 * * * /usr/bin/foo 12:10am on first day of month is 10 * 1 * * /usr/bin/foo – Joy Dutta Nov 23 '09 at 17:37 1   @Joy: No it's not; 10 * 1 * * is 10 past the hour, every hour, on the first day of the month. – womble♦ Nov 23 '09 at 20:29 add a comment

up vote2down vote	Check for a directory on your server at /etc/cron.monthly. If the directory exists, odds are your system is set up to run any executables it finds in that folder on a monthly basis. Just drop your script (or symlink it) in /etc/cron.monthly. Also, make sure your script is executable. shareimprove this answer answered Nov 23 '09 at 17:36 Asaph 1405
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Something like: 0 0 1 * * command /directory/file.ext shareimprove this answer