Cron expression for every five minutes in the next n hours?

Question

I know every five minutes is:

0 0/5 * * * *

But how do I limit the number hours for this to happen?

Example: Every five minutes for the next 10 hours.

Solution 1

I think should be able to define a trigger that can repeat every hour until a certain time:

import static org.quartz.SimpleScheduleBuilder.simpleSchedule;
import static org.quartz.TriggerBuilder.newTrigger;

...

Trigger myTrigger = newTrigger()
                    .withIdentity('myUniqueTriggerID")
                    .forJob(myJob)
                    .startAt(startDate)
                    .endAt(endDate)
                    .withSchedule(simpleSchedule().withIntervalInHours(1));

...

scheduler.scheduleJob(myJob, myTrigger);

Solution 2

Use the range operator to specify the hours. For example, for running the job every five minutes for 10 hours starting at 2 am:

0 0/5 2-12 * * *

Here is an excellent tutorial on Cron expression and operators: http://www.quartz-scheduler.org/documentation/quartz-2.x/tutorials/crontrigger.html

Edit: 10/3/2016: Updated the link.

Solution 3

If you can programatically access the CronTrigger that is running your cron expression then you can call the methods setStartTime and setEndTime with the computed time range.

Alternatively you could construct the cron expression on the fly and specify a computed hour range.

For example if you are starting your server at 9am you could create this expression at runtime 0 0/5 9-19 * * *

Comments

[Alex Pi]

That is a valid answer. Problem is that my code is client of an EJB that deals with quartz API. I only can provide startTime and cron expression.

[Alex Pi]

It seems I can't do what I want with a single cron expression.

[Morfic]

Not sure I fully understand the problem. Could you please provide a more detailed explanation of the problem? Also perhaps you could use the - special character to define the interval. Take a look at quartz-scheduler.org/api/2.0.0/org/quartz/CronExpression.htm‌​l

[Alex Pi]

I don't have control on quartz API. I am just calling an EJB that receives a startTime (date object) and the cron expression. Yes, at the end I used "-" computing the range I should set there. Still thinking about special cases here... like switching from one day to another in a computed range.

[Alex Pi]

In a general context (having access to the quartz API) your answer is correct.

[Khurram]

Updated the link.