A quick-reference collection of the most common cron schedule expressions. Cron is the standard job scheduler on Unix-like systems, and cron syntax is used by CI/CD platforms, cloud schedulers, Kubernetes CronJobs, and task runners everywhere. This cheat sheet covers 25+ ready-to-use expressions organized by frequency — from every minute to once a year. Validate any expression with our Cron Expression Parser or read the full cron expression guide for in-depth syntax coverage.
Cron Format Overview
A standard cron expression has five fields separated by spaces. From left to right they are: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where 0 is Sunday). An asterisk * means "every possible value," a slash / sets step intervals, and a comma , lists specific values.
┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6, Sun=0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *Every X Minutes or Hours
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| * * * * * | Every minute |
| */5 * * * * | Every 5 minutes |
| */15 * * * * | Every 15 minutes |
| */30 * * * * | Every 30 minutes |
| 0 * * * * | Every hour (at minute 0) |
| 0 */2 * * * | Every 2 hours |
| 0 */6 * * * | Every 6 hours (midnight, 6am, noon, 6pm) |
Daily Schedules
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 0 * * * | Every day at midnight (00:00) |
| 0 6 * * * | Every day at 6:00 AM |
| 0 9 * * * | Every day at 9:00 AM (business hours start) |
| 0 12 * * * | Every day at noon (12:00 PM) |
| 0 21 * * * | Every day at 9:00 PM |
| 0 9,21 * * * | Twice a day (9:00 AM and 9:00 PM) |
| 0 8,14,20 * * * | Three times a day (8:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 8:00 PM) |
Weekly Schedules
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 9 * * 1-5 | Every weekday (Mon-Fri) at 9:00 AM |
| 0 0 * * 0,6 | Every weekend (Sat and Sun) at midnight |
| 0 9 * * 1 | Every Monday at 9:00 AM |
| 0 17 * * 5 | Every Friday at 5:00 PM |
| 0 0 * * 0 | Every Sunday at midnight |
| 30 8 * * 1-5 | Weekdays at 8:30 AM |
Monthly Schedules
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 0 1 * * | First day of every month at midnight |
| 0 9 1 * * | First day of every month at 9:00 AM |
| 0 0 15 * * | 15th of every month at midnight |
| 0 17 L * 1-5 | Last weekday of every month at 5:00 PM (non-standard, supported by some systems) |
Yearly and Quarterly Schedules
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 0 1 1 * | January 1st at midnight (yearly) |
| 0 0 1 */3 * | Every 3 months on the 1st at midnight (quarterly) |
| 0 9 1 1,4,7,10 * | Quarterly on the 1st at 9:00 AM (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) |
Special Combinations
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| 5 0 * * * | Daily at 12:05 AM (offset to avoid midnight stampede) |
| 0 */4 * * * | Every 4 hours (6 times a day) |
| 0 9-17 * * 1-5 | Every hour during business hours (9 AM - 5 PM, Mon-Fri) |
| */10 9-17 * * 1-5 | Every 10 minutes during business hours |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the asterisk (*) mean in a cron expression?
An asterisk matches every possible value for that field. For example, * in the hour field means "every hour," and * in the day-of-week field means "every day of the week."
How do you run a cron job every 5 minutes?
Use */5 * * * *. The /5 is a step value that means "every 5th minute." This runs at minutes 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 of every hour.
What is the difference between 0 and 7 for Sunday in cron?
Both 0 and 7 represent Sunday in most cron implementations. The POSIX standard uses 0 for Sunday through 6 for Saturday, but many systems also accept 7 as Sunday for convenience.
How do you specify multiple specific times in cron?
Use commas to list specific values. For example, 0 9,12,17 * * * runs at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 5:00 PM every day. Each value is treated independently.
What timezone do cron jobs use?
Traditional cron uses the system timezone. Cloud platforms and Kubernetes often let you specify a timezone explicitly (e.g., CRON_TZ=America/New_York). Always check your platform documentation and set the timezone explicitly to avoid surprises during daylight saving transitions.
Does cron support "last day of month"?
Standard five-field cron does not have an "L" modifier. Some extended implementations (Quartz, AWS EventBridge, some Linux cron variants) support L for "last." For portable scripts, use a wrapper that checks the date at runtime.