Cron Every 40 Minutes
Set up a cron job every 40 minutes using */40 * * * *. Field-by-field breakdown with explanation of how non-divisor step values affect execution.
Cron Expression
*/40 * * * *
Field Breakdown
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | */40 | Every 40th minute |
| Hour | * | Every hour (0–23) |
| Day of Month | * | Every day of the month (1–31) |
| Month | * | Every month (1–12) |
| Day of Week | * | Every day of the week (Sun–Sat) |
Detailed Explanation
The cron expression */40 * * * * schedules a task to run at every minute that is divisible by 40, continuously throughout every day.
Field-by-field breakdown:
*/40(Minute): Every 40th minute, starting from minute 0. The step value/40causes execution at minutes 0 and 40 within each hour.*(Hour): Every hour from 0 through 23. No restriction on which hour.*(Day of Month): Every day from 1 through 31. No restriction on the day of the month.*(Month): Every month from January through December. No restriction on the month.*(Day of Week): Every day of the week from Sunday through Saturday. No restriction on the day.
This means your task will execute twice per hour (at minutes 0 and 40), for a total of 48 executions per day. The spacing is uneven: 40 minutes between minute 0 and minute 40, then only 20 minutes between minute 40 and the next hour's minute 0. This is because 40 does not evenly divide into 60. If the uneven spacing is acceptable for your use case, this is a simple and effective schedule. If you need true 40-minute intervals, consider using a system timer or script-based scheduling. The twice-per-hour frequency is moderate and works well for tasks that need more than hourly runs but less than every-30-minutes polling. This expression is supported by standard cron on Linux/macOS, as well as cloud services like AWS CloudWatch, Google Cloud Scheduler, and GitHub Actions.
Use Case
Useful for periodic data warehouse incremental loads where twice-per-hour updates keep reports reasonably fresh without overwhelming the ETL pipeline.
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Every 40 minutes
Next 10 Executions
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