Field-by-field breakdown
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | 0 |
| Hour | 8 | 8 |
| Day of month | * | Every day of the month |
| Month | * | Every month |
| Day of week | 1-5 | Monday through Friday |
Copy-paste examples
Linux crontab
# crontab -e
0 8 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/my-job.sh >> /var/log/my-job.log 2>&1Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
name: my-job
spec:
schedule: "0 8 * * 1-5"
concurrencyPolicy: Forbid
jobTemplate:
spec:
template:
spec:
restartPolicy: OnFailure
containers:
- name: my-job
image: busybox:1.36
command: ["sh", "-c", "date; echo Hello from cron"]GitHub Actions
on:
schedule:
- cron: '0 8 * * 1-5' # always UTCGitHub Actions evaluates schedules in UTC, does not accept macros such as @daily, and will not run workflows more often than every 5 minutes; runs can also be delayed during periods of high load.
Common variations
Click an expression to load it into the tool above.
| Cron expression | Schedule |
|---|---|
| At 5:00 AM, Monday through Friday. | |
| At 8:00 AM, Sunday through Thursday. | |
| At 8:30 AM, Monday through Friday. | |
| At 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM, Monday through Friday. |
Frequently asked questions
What does 0 8 * * 1-5 mean in cron?
At 8:00 AM, Monday through Friday. The five fields are minute 0, hour 8, day of month *, month * and day of week 1-5.
How do I run a cron job every weekday at 8 AM in Linux?
Run crontab -e, add the line 0 8 * * 1-5 /path/to/command, then save and exit. Use absolute paths, redirect output to a log file, and confirm it runs with grep CRON /var/log/syslog.
When will 0 8 * * 1-5 run next?
It depends on the current time and the time zone of the machine running cron. The calculator on this page shows the next 5 run times in your local time zone; on a server, cron uses the system time zone, which is often UTC.