Cron expression for every 2 hours

Runs the job on every even hour, twelve times a day.

0 */2 * * *

Generator

On the hour, every 2 hours

Field by field

  • Minute · 0–59 0 only at minute 0
  • Hour · 0–23 */2 every 2nd hour
  • Day of month · 1–31 * every day of the month
  • Month · 1–12 or JAN–DEC * every month
  • Day of week · 0–7 or SUN–SAT * every day of the week

Next runs in your local time

    Where this cron expression shows up

    • Pulling a report from a service that only updates every couple of hours
    • Backups that are too heavy to run hourly
    • Reconciliation jobs that can wait until the next even hour

    Common variations

    • Every four hours

      0 */4 * * * On the hour, every 4 hours

    • Every six hours

      0 */6 * * * On the hour, every 6 hours

    • Every two hours during working hours only

      0 8-18/2 * * * On the hour, every 2 hours, between 08:00 AM and 06:00 PM

    The step lives in the hour field, so it fires on the even hours and starts again at midnight. 0 */2 * * * at 11:59 PM runs the next job at midnight, not two hours later.

    Ranges, steps, and names are spelled out on the cheat sheet.