Cron Expression: */5 * * * *
*/5 * * * *
Run every 5 minutes
Field Breakdown
| Value | Field | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| */5 | minute | every 5 minutes (0,5,10,15...) |
| * | hour | every hour |
| * | day | every day |
| * | month | every month |
| * | weekday | every weekday |
The */5 syntax means "every 5th value" — so */5 in the minute field fires at minutes 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 of every hour. It does not mean "5 minutes after the last run". If the job starts at 00:00 and takes 8 minutes, the next invocation fires at 00:05 regardless.
Combining with flock
*/5 * * * * flock -n /tmp/sync.lock /usr/local/bin/sync.sh
Related Expressions
*/2 * * * *
Every 2 minutes
*/3 * * * *
Every 3 minutes
*/10 * * * *
Every 10 minutes
*/15 * * * *
Every 15 minutes
1-59/5 * * * *
Every 5 min starting at :01
Common Use Cases
- Cache warming
- RSS feed polling
- Metrics collection
- Webhook retries
Paste your crontab to visualise every job on a 24-hour timeline — detect overlaps, collisions, and get flock-safe versions.
Open Cron Visualiser →Frequently Asked Questions
What does */5 mean in a cron expression?
*/5 means 'every 5th value of the field's range'. In the minute field, the range is 0-59, so */5 fires at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 of every hour.
Does */5 start exactly 5 minutes after the last run?
No. */5 fires at fixed points in the minute field (0, 5, 10...) regardless of when the previous run completed. If you need exactly 5 minutes between runs, use a service manager with a delay loop, not cron.