Cron Expression Errors

[Jordan Trinklein]

Hello!

I have a filter subscription that I'm trying to wire up so it sends every other Friday at 9 AM, starting two Fridays from now. So I inputted the following Cron expression:

0 9 * * 5/2

Jira keeps telling me that I'm giving them an unexpected end of expression.

Any thoughts as to what I'm doing wrong with that Cron expression? 

Thanks!

[Tim Perrault · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jordan Trinklein 

Cron can’t schedule jobs in intervals determined by weeks, meaning every other Friday won't work.

With that said, you could just run it every Friday without a headache.

0 0 9 ? * FRI *

[Jordan Trinklein]

Totally agree @Tim Perrault 

I would love to do it every Friday 😄 but I'm currently trying to satisfy a requirement from executive level leadership. 

[Tim Perrault]

They will probably need to spend some money on one of the apps in the marketplace then. You can get close to what you need with cron, but you will never be able to have an expression that is every other Friday.

[Hyrum Steffensen _Appfire_]

Hello Jordan,

I tried out your CRON expression using cronmaker.com and it returns an error. I had better luck with the following:

0 0 9 ? * 6 /2

0 0 9 ? * FRI /2

Hope that helps!

Hyrum

[Jordan Trinklein]

Appreciate the response @Hyrum Steffensen _Appfire_ Hyrum. I inputted both suggestions you gave me and Jira accepted it.

However, I'm not sure it interpreted it correctly. According to this, it is showing the next send as 1/5/2024

[Hyrum Steffensen _Appfire_]

Hello Jordan,

I saw that when I used cronmaker, but did not trust the results. Well, as a workaround, perhaps you could ask the executive level leadership to wait until next year! 😃

I agree with Tim. An automation app could perform the same function. I know Power Scripts can run scripts in an interval of two weeks. You could also create two CRON jobs to run once a month on the first and third Fridays.

BTW, happy Friday!

Hyrum

Note: I work for Appfire and support Power Scripts.