Cron schedule examples
Pick a schedule to copy its cron expression, see the next run times, and get the Kubernetes, GitHub Actions and systemd versions.
| Schedule | Cron expression | When it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Every minute | * * * * * | Runs once a minute, at the start of every minute. |
| Every 2 minutes | */2 * * * * | Runs every 2 minutes: at minute 0, 2, 4 and so on of every hour. |
| Every 5 minutes | */5 * * * * | Runs every 5 minutes: at minute 0, 5, 10 and so on, 12 times an hour. |
| Every 10 minutes | */10 * * * * | Runs every 10 minutes: at minute 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 of every hour. |
| Every 15 minutes | */15 * * * * | Runs every 15 minutes: on the hour, at quarter past, half past and quarter to. |
| Every 30 minutes | */30 * * * * | Runs twice an hour, on the hour and at half past. |
| Every hour | 0 * * * * | Runs once an hour, on the hour (minute 0). Same as @hourly. |
| Every 2 hours | 0 */2 * * * | Runs on the hour every 2 hours: 00:00, 02:00, 04:00 and so on, 12 times a day. |
| Every 3 hours | 0 */3 * * * | Runs on the hour every 3 hours: 00:00, 03:00, 06:00 and so on, 8 times a day. |
| Every 4 hours | 0 */4 * * * | Runs on the hour every 4 hours: 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00. |
| Every 6 hours | 0 */6 * * * | Runs four times a day, at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00. |
| Every 12 hours | 0 */12 * * * | Runs twice a day, at midnight and at noon. |
| Every day at midnight | 0 0 * * * | Runs once a day at 00:00. Same as @daily and @midnight. |
| Every day at 1 am | 0 1 * * * | Runs once a day at 01:00. |
| Every day at 2 am | 0 2 * * * | Runs once a day at 02:00, a common time for backups and cleanup jobs. |
| Every day at 3 am | 0 3 * * * | Runs once a day at 03:00. |
| Every day at 6 am | 0 6 * * * | Runs once a day at 06:00. |
| Every day at 9 am | 0 9 * * * | Runs once a day at 09:00, including weekends. |
| Every day at noon | 0 12 * * * | Runs once a day at 12:00. |
| Every day at 6 pm | 0 18 * * * | Runs once a day at 18:00. |
| Twice a day | 0 0,12 * * * | Runs twice a day, at 00:00 and 12:00. |
| Every weekday at 9 am | 0 9 * * 1-5 | Runs at 09:00 Monday to Friday, and not on weekends. |
| Every weekday at midnight | 0 0 * * 1-5 | Runs at 00:00 at the start of each day from Monday to Friday. |
| Every weekend | 0 0 * * 0,6 | Runs at 00:00 on Saturday and on Sunday. |
| Every monday | 0 0 * * 1 | Runs once a week, at 00:00 on Monday. |
| Every sunday | 0 0 * * 0 | Runs once a week, at 00:00 on Sunday. Same as @weekly. |
| Every friday at 5 pm | 0 17 * * 5 | Runs once a week, at 17:00 on Friday. |
| Every hour from 9 to 5 on weekdays | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 | Runs on the hour from 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday: 9 runs a day. |
| Every 5 minutes during business hours | */5 9-17 * * 1-5 | Runs every 5 minutes from 09:00 to 17:55, Monday to Friday. |
| Every month | 0 0 1 * * | Runs once a month, at 00:00 on the 1st. Same as @monthly. |
| Twice a month | 0 0 1,15 * * | Runs at 00:00 on the 1st and the 15th of every month. |
| Every quarter | 0 0 1 */3 * | Runs at 00:00 on the 1st of January, April, July and October. |
| Every 6 months | 0 0 1 1,7 * | Runs at 00:00 on the 1st of January and the 1st of July. |
| Every year | 0 0 1 1 * | Runs once a year, at 00:00 on 1 January. Same as @yearly and @annually. |
Need something else? Paste any expression into the cron expression explainer to read it in plain English and see the next run times.
Cron syntax in one minute
A cron expression has five fields: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12) and day of week (0-7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday). Each field takes * for every value, a list like 1,15, a range like 9-17 or a step like */10.