# Cron Jobs
Confidence: high
Last verified: 2026-05-22
Generation: human_only


## TL;DR

Cron is a time-based job scheduler in Unix-like systems. `crontab -e` edits user jobs. Format: `minute hour day month weekday command`. Example: `0 2 * * * /backup.sh` runs daily at 2 AM. Cron is ideal for periodic maintenance: backups, log rotation, report generation.

## Core Explanation

Special strings: @reboot (at startup), @daily (0 0 * * *), @hourly, @weekly, @monthly. Output: cron emails job output to user (redirect to file: `>/dev/null 2>&1` to suppress). `/etc/crontab` for system-wide jobs. `/etc/cron.d/` for package-managed cron files. Alternatives: systemd timers (more features, better logging), anacron (runs missed jobs after downtime).

## Further Reading

- [crontab(5) Linux Manual Page](undefined)