Run a Cron Job Every 10 Minutes
*/10 in the minute field fires at :00, :10, :20, :30, :40, and :50 — six runs per hour, 144 per day. It's a common middle ground: frequent enough for near-real-time syncs, sparse enough that a slightly slow job won't overlap itself.
*/10 * * * *In plain English: Every 10 minutes.
Field by field
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | */10 | every 10 minutes |
| Hour | * | every hour |
| Day of month | * | every day |
| Month | * | every month |
| Day of week | * | every weekday |
Variations
*/10 8-18 * * *every 10 minutes during an extended workday5-55/10 * * * *every 10 minutes at :05, :15, :25 … — offset from the hour boundary*/10 * * * 6,0every 10 minutes on weekends onlyTweak any of these in the crontab explainer to see the schedule in plain English and its next run times.
Frequently asked questions
Is */10 the same as 0,10,20,30,40,50?
Yes — a step over the full range expands to exactly that list. The step form is just shorter and easier to change later.
Can I do every 7 minutes the same way?
You can write */7, but because 60 isn't divisible by 7 the gap resets at the top of each hour: :00, :07 … :56, then :00 again — only 4 minutes after :56. Steps that don't divide 60 drift like this every hour.
New to cron syntax? Read Cron Expressions Explained, Field by Field.