how to create a cron job that runs on the first day of month

Solution 1:

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

Solution 2:

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

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updated the crons, it was a copy paste error, thanks Joy Dutta!

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Solution 3:

use following:

@monthly     /home/user/backup.sh

more information:

• man 5 crontab (files used to schedule the execution of programs)
• crontab(5): tables for driving cron - Linux man page

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Solution 4:

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.