Cron Expression Examples — 25 Ready-to-Use Cron Schedules

Cron expressions are compact schedule strings used in Linux crontab, GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, Kubernetes CronJobs, and dozens of other platforms. This guide covers the five-field syntax, 25 practical examples, the special characters you need to know, and key differences between platforms.

Parse a cron expression →

Cron Syntax: The 5 Fields

A standard cron expression has five space-separated fields:

┌─────────────── minute (0–59) │ ┌───────────── hour (0–23) │ │ ┌─────────── day of month (1–31) │ │ │ ┌───────── month (1–12 or JAN–DEC) │ │ │ │ ┌─────── day of week (0–6 or SUN–SAT; 0 and 7 = Sunday) │ │ │ │ │ * * * * *
FieldPositionValues
Minute1st0–59
Hour2nd0–23
Day of month3rd1–31
Month4th1–12 or JAN–DEC
Day of week5th0–7 (0 and 7 both = Sunday), or SUN–SAT

25 Cron Expression Examples

ExpressionMeaning
* * * * *Every minute
*/5 * * * *Every 5 minutes
*/15 * * * *Every 15 minutes
*/30 * * * *Every 30 minutes
0 * * * *Every hour (at :00)
0 */2 * * *Every 2 hours
0 */6 * * *Every 6 hours
0 0 * * *Daily at midnight
0 9 * * *Daily at 9:00 AM
0 9,17 * * *Daily at 9 AM and 5 PM
0 9-17 * * *Every hour from 9 AM to 5 PM
0 9 * * 1-5Weekdays at 9:00 AM
0 9 * * 1Every Monday at 9:00 AM
0 9 * * 6,0Weekends at 9:00 AM
0 0 * * 0Every Sunday at midnight
0 0 1 * *1st of every month at midnight
0 0 15 * *15th of every month at midnight
0 0 1,15 * *1st and 15th of every month
0 0 L * *Last day of every month (some platforms)
0 0 1 */3 *1st of every quarter (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct)
0 0 1 1 *January 1st at midnight (yearly)
0 2 * * *Daily at 2:00 AM (good for DB backups)
30 23 * * *Daily at 11:30 PM
0 8 * * 1 Monday morning standup reminder
*/10 9-17 * * 1-5Every 10 min during business hours

Special Characters

CharacterMeaningExample
*Any / all values* in hour = every hour
/Step / every N*/5 in minute = every 5 min
-Range9-17 in hour = 9 AM to 5 PM
,List1,15 in day = 1st and 15th
LLast (some platforms)L in day = last day of month
?No specific value (some platforms)Used in day-of-month or day-of-week when the other is set
#Nth weekday (some platforms)2#1 = first Monday of the month

Platform Differences

Cron expressions are not fully portable across platforms. Here are the key differences to watch for:

Linux crontab

Standard 5-field format. Supports named macros like @hourly, @daily, @weekly, @monthly, @yearly, and @reboot. No support for seconds or L/# specifiers.

GitHub Actions

Uses standard 5-field format in YAML. Note that GitHub Actions uses UTC and has a minimum resolution of 5 minutes (scheduled workflows run on shared runners with delay).

on: schedule: - cron: '0 9 * * 1-5' # Weekdays at 9 AM UTC

AWS EventBridge (CloudWatch Events)

Uses a 6-field format: minute hour day month weekday year. Supports L, W, and #. Requires ? instead of * in either day-of-month or day-of-week.

cron(0 9 ? * MON-FRI *) # Weekdays at 9 AM (EventBridge format)

Kubernetes CronJob

Uses standard 5-field Linux cron syntax. The schedule runs in UTC by default (configurable per cluster timezone in Kubernetes 1.24+).

apiVersion: batch/v1 kind: CronJob metadata: name: report-generator spec: schedule: "0 2 * * *" # Daily at 2 AM UTC jobTemplate: spec: template: spec: containers: - name: report image: my-report-image

Related Tools

Cron Parser →
Paste any cron expression and see the next 10 run times instantly.
Timestamp Converter →
Convert Unix timestamps to human-readable dates and times.

Related Guides

Diff Tool for Developers →
Compare old and new cron configurations to audit schedule changes.
YAML vs JSON →
Cron jobs in CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Kubernetes) use YAML — learn the format.

FAQ

What does * * * * * mean in cron?

Five asterisks (* * * * *) means 'every minute of every hour of every day of every month on every day of the week' — i.e., the job runs once per minute, continuously.

How do I run a cron job every 5 minutes?

Use */5 in the minute field: */5 * * * *. The / operator means 'every N units'. So */5 means every 5 minutes, */15 means every 15 minutes, and so on.

Does cron support seconds?

Standard Unix/Linux crontab does not support seconds — the finest resolution is 1 minute. However, some platforms add a 6th field for seconds: AWS EventBridge, Quartz Scheduler (Java), and Spring's @Scheduled annotation all support a seconds field.

What is the difference between crontab and a cron expression?

A crontab is the file (or service) that stores and runs cron jobs on a Linux system. A cron expression is the schedule string itself (e.g., 0 9 * * 1). Cron expressions are also used in cloud platforms, job schedulers, and frameworks — independently of the crontab file.

How do I test a cron expression without waiting?

Use DevKit's Cron Parser — paste any cron expression and instantly see the next 10 execution times. This lets you verify complex schedules without deploying.