Cron Schedule for Weekdays at 4:30 AM
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit. $ crontab -l SHELL=/bin/bash PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin MAILTO=admin@example.com 0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh 30 4 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/cleanup.sh 0 0 1 * * /usr/local/bin/monthly_report.sh
Based on the exhibit, which of the following is true about the cleanup.sh job?
Quick Answer
The correct answer is that the cleanup.sh job runs at 4:30 AM on Monday through Friday. This is determined by the cron expression `30 4 * * 1-5`, where the first two fields set the minute to 30 and the hour to 4, the asterisks mean every day of the month and every month, and the final field `1-5` restricts execution to weekdays only—Monday (1) through Friday (5). On the Linux Professional Institute Certification Level 1 LPIC-1 exam, this type of question tests your ability to read and interpret cron schedule syntax, a core system administration skill. A common trap is confusing the day-of-week field with the day-of-month field, or forgetting that cron uses a 0-6 range where 0 and 7 both represent Sunday. To remember the weekday numbering, think of Monday as the start of the work week at position 1, and Sunday as the weekend bookend at 0 or 7.
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often misread the minute field (30) as the hour or confuse the day-of-week range `1-5` with 'every day', leading them to select 'every day' or 'weekends' instead of the correct weekday-only schedule.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
It runs at 4:30 AM on Monday through Friday
The cron expression `30 4 * * 1-5` specifies that the job runs at minute 30, hour 4 (4:30 AM), every day of month (*), every month (*), but only on days of the week 1 through 5 (Monday=1, Tuesday=2, Wednesday=3, Thursday=4, Friday=5). Therefore, the job runs at 4:30 AM on Monday through Friday.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
It runs at 4:30 AM every day
Why it's wrong here
It only runs on weekdays (1-5).
- ✓
It runs at 4:30 AM on Monday through Friday
Why this is correct
Correct interpretation of the cron schedule.
- ✗
It runs at 4:00 AM on weekdays
Why it's wrong here
It runs at 4:30 AM, not 4:00 AM.
- ✗
It runs at 4:30 AM on weekends
Why it's wrong here
It runs on weekdays (1-5), not weekends.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on LPIC-1
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A system administrator wants to schedule a script to run every Monday at 3:00 AM, but only if the system clock is set to local time (not UTC). Which crontab entry should be used?
medium- A.3 0 * * 1 /path/to/script
- ✓ B.0 3 * * 1 /path/to/script
- C.0 15 * * 1 /path/to/script
- D.0 3 * * 0 /path/to/script
Why B: The crontab format is 'minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week command'. To run at 3:00 AM Monday, the minute field is 0, the hour field is 3 (using 24-hour time), and the day-of-week field is 1 (Monday). The cron daemon does not care about UTC vs local time; it uses the system's configured timezone, so no special flag is needed.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-1 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-1 exam.