Cron Expression Examples

Common cron schedule examples explained — copy-paste patterns for every use case

What Are Common Cron Expression Patterns?

Cron expression patterns are reusable schedule templates that solve common scheduling needs. Instead of building expressions from scratch, developers reference established patterns for frequent use cases: every 5 minutes (*/5 * * * *), daily at midnight (0 0 * * *), weekdays at 9 AM (0 9 * * 1-5), first of every month (0 0 1 * *), and many more. Having a library of tested patterns eliminates trial-and-error and prevents scheduling mistakes.

This reference provides categorized cron examples covering minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly schedules with plain-English explanations and upcoming execution times for each pattern. Whether you are configuring database backups, log rotation, deployment triggers, health checks, report generation, or cache invalidation, these examples give you a validated starting point that you can modify for your specific requirements.

How to Use Cron Expression Examples

1. Browse the categorized examples below to find a schedule that matches your needs
2. Click any example to load it into the cron parser for detailed analysis
3. Review the next execution times to confirm the pattern runs when expected
4. Copy the expression directly to your crontab, scheduler config, or CI/CD pipeline
5. Modify the expression to fine-tune timing — the parser updates in real time

Why Use PinusX Cron Examples?

PinusX provides a comprehensive cron example reference with 100% client-side execution. Every example you click, modify, or test is processed locally in your browser. No scheduling data or infrastructure context is transmitted to any server. This matters because cron schedules often reveal operational patterns — when backups run, when deployments happen, when maintenance windows are scheduled. In November 2025, jsonformatter.org leaked over 80,000 credentials from server-side processing. PinusX ensures your infrastructure scheduling details remain private by processing everything in your browser tab.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the cron for every 5 minutes?

*/5 * * * * — the */5 in the minute field means every 5th minute (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55). This runs 12 times per hour and 288 times per day. It is the most common interval for health checks, metric collection, and queue processing.

How do I schedule daily at midnight?

0 0 * * * — this runs at minute 0 of hour 0 (midnight) every day of every month. For a specific time like 3:30 AM, use 30 3 * * *. Remember that the timezone depends on your cron system configuration (most servers and Kubernetes use UTC).

What is the cron for weekdays only?

0 9 * * 1-5 — the 1-5 in the day-of-week field means Monday through Friday. This example runs at 9:00 AM on weekdays. Some systems use 0 for Sunday and 6 for Saturday, while others use 7 for Sunday. Both conventions work in our parser.

How do I run on the first of every month?

0 0 1 * * — this runs at midnight on the first day of every month. For specific months, add them to the fourth field: 0 0 1 1,4,7,10 * runs quarterly on the first day. For the last day of each month, cron cannot express this directly — use a script that checks the date.

Can I schedule every other day?

Cron does not directly support every-other-day schedules. The closest is */2 in the day-of-month field (0 0 */2 * *), but this runs on odd-numbered days (1, 3, 5...) and resets each month. For a true every-48-hours schedule, use a different scheduling mechanism or run daily with a script that checks if the current day count is even.

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