Cheat Sheet

Cron Expressions

Quick reference for cron expression syntax: fields, special characters, common schedules, and platform differences (Linux, GitHub Actions, AWS, Quartz).

A cron expression is a string of 5 (or 6) fields separated by spaces that defines a recurring schedule for a job. It is used in Unix/Linux cron daemons, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes CronJobs, AWS EventBridge, and many other schedulers.

Timezone: cron runs in the server's local timezone. GitHub Actions always uses UTC. Make sure your times account for the target timezone.

Expression Anatomy

0minute

9hour

*day/month

*month

1day/week

→ At 09:00, every Monday

Field Reference

Pos	Field	Allowed values	Special characters
1	Minute	0–59	* , - /
2	Hour	0–23	* , - /
3	Day of month	1–31	* , - / ? L W
4	Month	1–12 or JAN–DEC	* , - /
5	Day of week	0–6 or SUN–SAT	* , - / ? L #
6	Second	0–59	* , - / (Quartz, Spring only)

Special Characters

Wildcard

Matches every value of the field.

* * * * * — every minute

List

Separates multiple values.

0 9,17 * * * — at 09:00 and 17:00

Range

Specifies a continuous range of values.

0 9-17 * * * — every hour 9am–5pm

Step

Every N units. */5 means every 5 units starting from 0.

*/15 * * * * — every 15 minutes

Any

Quartz · AWS

Used in day-of-month or day-of-week to mean "no specific value". Avoids conflicts when specifying both fields.

0 0 1 * ? — midnight on the 1st

Last

Quartz · AWS

Last day of the month, or last weekday. In day-of-week, 5L means last Friday.

0 0 L * * — midnight last day of month

Weekday

Quartz · AWS

Nearest weekday (Mon–Fri) to a given day of the month.

0 9 15W * * — 9am on weekday nearest the 15th

Nth weekday

Quartz only

The Nth occurrence of a weekday in a month.

0 9 * * 1#2 — 9am on 2nd Monday

Common Examples

Expression	Meaning
`* * * * *`	Every minute
`0 * * * *`	Every hour, on the hour
`/15 * * *`	Every 15 minutes
`5 /2 * *`	At :05 of every 2 hours
`0 0 * * *`	Every day at midnight
`0 9 * * 1-5`	Every weekday at 9:00 AM
`0 9-17 * * 1-5`	Every hour from 9am to 5pm, weekdays
`30 8 * * 1-5`	Weekdays at 8:30 AM
`0 9,17 * * 1-5`	At 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM on weekdays
`0 0 * * 0`	Every Sunday at midnight
`0 0 1 * *`	First day of every month at midnight
`0 0 1,15 * *`	Midnight on the 1st and 15th of each month
`0 0 1 1 *`	Every 1st of January at midnight

@ Shortcuts

Alias	Equivalent	Meaning
@reboot	—	Run once at startup
@hourly	0 * * * *	Every hour at minute 0
@daily	0 0 * * *	Every day at midnight
@midnight	0 0 * * *	Same as @daily
@weekly	0 0 * * 0	Every Sunday at midnight
@monthly	0 0 1 * *	First day of every month at midnight
@yearly	0 0 1 1 *	Every 1st of January at midnight
@annually	0 0 1 1 *	Same as @yearly

Supported in: Linux/Unix cron, Kubernetes. Not available in GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, or Quartz.

Platform Differences

Platform	Fields	Notes
Unix / Linux cron	min hour dom month dow	Standard 5-field format. Supports @ shortcuts. Runs in local timezone.
GitHub Actions	min hour dom month dow	5-field format. Always UTC. Minimum interval: 5 minutes.
Kubernetes CronJob	min hour dom month dow	5-field format. Supports @hourly, @daily, @weekly, @monthly, @yearly.
AWS EventBridge	min hour dom month dow year	6-field format with year. ? required in either dom or dow.
Quartz Scheduler	sec min hour dom month dow [year]	6–7 fields. Seconds are the first field. Supports ?, L, W, #.
Spring @Scheduled	sec min hour dom month dow	6-field Quartz-style. Seconds first. No year field.

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