Crontab Interval Shortcuts

Question

Are there any crontab interface "shortcuts" in any (compatible/compliant) version of cron? We run some scripts with a regular interval, but offset.

I dislike lines like this;

3,8,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,53,58 * * * * command

I believe I have tried something like;

3/5 * * * * command
and
*/5+3 * * * * command before to no avail.

Is there any way to normalize/shrink cron entries with offset schedules such as the above?

Answer 1

3-59/5 * * * * command

Should start the job at 3 minutes after the hour and run it every 5 minutes until 59 minutes after the hour.

Answer 2

*/5 will get you every 5 min

3-58/5 should get you every 5 min starting at 3

http://www.nncron.ru/help/EN/working/cron-format.htm