What is the cron expression for every 5 minutes?

The cron expression for every 5 minutes is */5 * * * *. The */5 in the minute field means "every 5th minute" — your command runs at :00, :05, :10, :15, :20, :25, :30, :35, :40, :45, :50, and :55 of every hour, every day.

How do I run a cron job every hour?

Use the expression 0 * * * * to run once per hour at the top of the hour (:00). The 0 in the minute field means "at minute zero." If you want it at a different minute, change the first field — for example, 30 * * * * runs at :30 every hour.

What is the cron expression for daily at midnight?

Use 0 0 * * * for daily at midnight. This means minute 0, hour 0 (midnight), every day, every month, every day of the week. For a different time, change the hour — 0 6 * * * runs daily at 6:00 AM.

How do I set up a weekly cron job?

Use 0 0 * * 0 for weekly at midnight on Sunday. Change the last field to pick a different day (1=Monday, 2=Tuesday, etc.) and adjust the hour field for a different time. For example, 0 9 * * 1 runs every Monday at 9:00 AM.

Does crontab every 5 minutes work the same on all systems?

The expression */5 * * * * is standard and works identically on Linux crontab, macOS crontab, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Kubernetes CronJobs, and most cloud schedulers. The only difference is how you configure it — Linux uses crontab -e, GitHub Actions uses a YAML schedule field, and cloud services have their own interfaces.

How do I run a cron job every 2 hours?

Use 0 */2 * * * to run at the top of every 2nd hour (midnight, 2 AM, 4 AM, 6 AM, etc.). The */2 in the hour field creates 2-hour steps. If you want it at the 30-minute mark of every 2 hours, use 30 */2 * * *.

Crontab Every 5 Minutes, Hourly, Daily & Weekly — Copy-Paste Reference

Last updated: April 20266 min readDeveloper Tools

The cron expression for "every 5 minutes" is */5 * * * *. Below is every common interval from every minute to yearly — with copy-paste expressions and setup instructions for Linux crontab, GitHub Actions, and AWS CloudWatch.

Every X Minutes

Interval	Cron Expression	Runs Per Hour	Runs Per Day
Every minute	* * * * *	60	1,440
Every 2 minutes	/2 * * *	30	720
Every 5 minutes	/5 * * *	12	288
Every 10 minutes	/10 * * *	6	144
Every 15 minutes	/15 * * *	4	96
Every 20 minutes	/20 * * *	3	72
Every 30 minutes	/30 * * *	2	48

Every X Hours

Interval	Cron Expression	Runs Per Day	Times
Every hour	0 * * * *	24	12:00 AM, 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM...
Every 2 hours	0 /2 * *	12	12:00 AM, 2:00 AM, 4:00 AM...
Every 3 hours	0 /3 * *	8	12:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 6:00 AM...
Every 4 hours	0 /4 * *	6	12:00 AM, 4:00 AM, 8:00 AM...
Every 6 hours	0 /6 * *	4	12:00 AM, 6:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 6:00 PM
Every 8 hours	0 /8 * *	3	12:00 AM, 8:00 AM, 4:00 PM
Every 12 hours	0 /12 * *	2	12:00 AM, 12:00 PM

Daily, Weekly, Monthly

Interval	Cron Expression	When It Runs
Daily at midnight	0 0 * * *	12:00 AM every day
Daily at 9 AM	0 9 * * *	9:00 AM every day
Weekdays at 9 AM	0 9 * * 1-5	9:00 AM Monday through Friday
Weekends at 10 AM	0 10 * * 0,6	10:00 AM Saturday and Sunday
Every Monday at 9 AM	0 9 * * 1	9:00 AM every Monday
Every Friday at 5 PM	0 17 * * 5	5:00 PM every Friday
Monthly (1st at midnight)	0 0 1 * *	12:00 AM on the 1st
Quarterly	0 0 1 1,4,7,10 *	12:00 AM on Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1
Yearly	0 0 1 1 *	12:00 AM on January 1st

Need a custom interval? Build it visually and copy in one click.

Open Cron Generator

How to Set Up in Different Systems

Linux Crontab

The most common cron implementation. Open your crontab with crontab -e and add a line:

*/5 * * * * /home/user/scripts/backup.sh — runs backup.sh every 5 minutes
0 9 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/report.py — runs report.py at 9 AM on weekdays
Each line is: cron expression + space + full path to command or script
Use crontab -l to list all current cron jobs

GitHub Actions

Add a schedule trigger to your workflow YAML:

Under on:, add schedule: with a - cron: entry
Example: - cron: '*/5 * * * *' for every 5 minutes
GitHub Actions uses UTC timezone exclusively — convert your local time
Minimum interval is every 5 minutes (GitHub throttles more frequent schedules)
Scheduled workflows only run on the default branch

AWS CloudWatch Events (EventBridge)

AWS uses a slightly different syntax with a cron() wrapper and 6 fields (adds year):

cron(0/5 * * * ? *) — every 5 minutes
cron(0 9 ? * MON-FRI *) — weekdays at 9 AM UTC
AWS uses ? (no specific value) in either day-of-month or day-of-week — one must be ?
All times in UTC

Platform Syntax Comparison

Feature	Linux Crontab	GitHub Actions	AWS EventBridge	Kubernetes CronJob
Fields	5 (min-dow)	5 (min-dow)	6 (min-dow-year)	5 (min-dow)
Timezone	System TZ	✗ UTC only	✗ UTC only	~Configurable (v1.25+)
Minimum interval	✓ Every minute	~Every 5 minutes	✓ Every minute	✓ Every minute
Day-of-week start	0=Sunday	0=Sunday	SUN-SAT names	0=Sunday
? character	✗ Not supported	✗ Not supported	✓ Required in one day field	✗ Not supported
Shorthand (@daily)	✓ Supported	✗ Not supported	✗ Not supported	✗ Not supported

When Every 5 Minutes Is Too Frequent

Running a cron job every 5 minutes means 288 executions per day. Before you set this interval, consider:

API rate limits — if your job calls an external API, 288 requests/day may hit rate limits. Check the API documentation.
Resource cost — on cloud platforms, every execution has a compute cost. AWS Lambda running every 5 minutes = 8,640 invocations/month.
Log volume — each run generates log output. At 288 runs/day, log files grow fast. Set up log rotation.
Overlap risk — if your job takes more than 5 minutes to complete, the next execution starts before the previous one finishes. Use a lock file or flock to prevent overlap.

For real-time needs (sub-minute), cron is the wrong tool. Use a message queue, event stream, or webhook-based architecture instead.

Developer Tools

Cron Expression Generator — build any cron schedule visually
Timestamp Converter — convert UTC to your local timezone for scheduling
JSON Formatter — format GitHub Actions YAML and AWS JSON configs
Code Formatter — clean up scripts executed by your cron jobs
Diff Checker — compare crontab before and after edits
Code Minifier — optimize scripts for faster cron execution

Every cron interval, one click to copy. Or build a custom schedule visually.