Crontab Every Friday at 5:00 PM (0 17 * * 5)
Schedule a cron job for every Friday at 5:00 PM. A popular end-of-week schedule for reports, backups, and code freeze automation.
Detailed Explanation
Running a Cron Job Every Friday at 5 PM
The expression 0 17 * * 5 triggers at 5:00 PM (17:00 in 24-hour time) every Friday (day 5 of the week).
Field Breakdown
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | At minute 0 |
| Hour | 17 | At 5:00 PM |
| Day of Month | * | Any day |
| Month | * | Every month |
| Day of Week | 5 | Friday |
24-Hour Time Conversion
Cron uses 24-hour time exclusively. Common afternoon/evening hours:
- 1 PM = 13
- 2 PM = 14
- 3 PM = 15
- 4 PM = 16
- 5 PM = 17
- 6 PM = 18
- 10 PM = 22
- 11 PM = 23
End-of-Week Automation
Friday evening is a natural boundary for weekly workflows:
# Weekly report generation
0 17 * * 5 /scripts/weekly-report.sh
# End-of-week database backup
0 18 * * 5 /scripts/full-backup.sh
# Archive weekly logs
0 23 * * 5 /scripts/archive-logs.sh
Timezone Alert
If your team spans multiple timezones, 5 PM on the server might be morning or middle of the night for some team members. Consider using UTC and documenting the equivalent local times.
Use Case
End-of-week automation: generating weekly performance reports, triggering full database backups before the weekend, sending weekly summary emails, initiating code freeze procedures, archiving weekly logs, or starting long-running weekend batch jobs.