Cron Expression Reference: Syntax and Common Schedules
A cron expression schedules a task to run at fixed times. It's five space-separated fields, read left to right — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Below is what each field accepts, the special characters, and a table of ready-to-copy schedules.
Updated 2026-07-06
The five fields
┌───────────── minute (0 - 59) │ ┌─────────── hour (0 - 23) │ │ ┌───────── day of month (1 - 31) │ │ │ ┌─────── month (1 - 12) │ │ │ │ ┌───── day of week (0 - 6, Sun = 0) │ │ │ │ │ * * * * *
Some systems allow names (JAN–DEC, SUN–SAT) and a few add a sixth field at the front for seconds — check your platform's docs, since cron dialects vary slightly.
Special characters
| Symbol | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| * | Every value (any) | * in the hour field = every hour |
| , | List of values | 1,15,30 = at 1, 15, and 30 |
| - | Range of values | 9-17 = 9 through 17 |
| / | Step values | */5 = every 5th (0,5,10,…) |
| */n | Every n units | */15 in minutes = every 15 min |
Common schedules
| Expression | Runs |
|---|---|
| * * * * * | Every minute |
| */5 * * * * | Every 5 minutes |
| 0 * * * * | Every hour, on the hour |
| 0 */2 * * * | Every 2 hours |
| 0 0 * * * | Every day at midnight |
| 0 9 * * * | Every day at 9:00 AM |
| 30 8 * * 1-5 | 8:30 AM, Monday to Friday |
| 0 0 * * 0 | Every Sunday at midnight |
| 0 0 1 * * | First day of every month at midnight |
| 0 0 1 1 * | Once a year, on January 1st |
| 15 14 1 * * | 2:15 PM on the 1st of every month |
| 0 22 * * 1-5 | 10 PM on weekdays |
| 0 0,12 * * * | Twice a day, at midnight and noon |
| */10 9-17 * * 1-5 | Every 10 min, 9–5, on weekdays |
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