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 |