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Cron Expression Reference

Common cron schedules explained in plain English with field-by-field breakdowns, next run times, and real-world use cases.

Cron Syntax Quick Reference

Minute
0-59
Hour
0-23
Day (Month)
1-31
Month
1-12
Day (Week)
0-6
* * * * * = minute hour day(month) month day(week)

Minutes

* * * * * Every Minute

Health check pings · Queue processing

*/5 * * * * Every 5 Minutes

API data polling · Metrics collection

*/10 * * * * Every 10 Minutes

External API sync · Database cleanup

*/15 * * * * Every 15 Minutes

Report generation · Data warehouse ETL

*/30 * * * * Every 30 Minutes

Digest email processing · Dashboard data refresh

Hours

0 * * * * Every Hour

Hourly backups · Analytics aggregation

0 */2 * * * Every 2 Hours

Database optimization · CDN cache purge

0 */6 * * * Every 6 Hours

SSL certificate expiry checks · Data warehouse refresh

0 */12 * * * Every 12 Hours

Twice-daily digest emails · AM/PM report generation

Daily

0 0 * * * Daily at Midnight

Database backups · Log rotation

0 12 * * * Daily at Noon

Midday status reports · Lunch-hour notifications

0 9 * * * Daily at 9 AM

Morning summary emails · Daily standup reports

0 18 * * * Daily at 6 PM

End-of-day reports · Daily data export

Weekly

0 0 * * 1 Weekly on Monday

Weekly reports · Start-of-week backups

0 9 * * 1-5 Weekdays at 9 AM

Daily standup reminders · Business-hours monitoring

0 10 * * 0,6 Weekends at 10 AM

Weekend maintenance · Off-peak data migration

Monthly & Yearly

0 0 1 * * First Day of Month

Monthly billing · Monthly reports

0 0 28-31 * * Last Day of Month

End-of-month reports · Monthly invoice generation

0 0 1 1,4,7,10 * Every Quarter (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct)

Quarterly financial reports · Tax preparation tasks

0 0 1 1 * Yearly on January 1

Annual report generation · Year-end data archival