Cron Hour Field
The hour field (second in standard 5-field cron) specifies which hour(s) of the day the job runs. Valid values are 0–23 in 24-hour format.
Quick Reference
| Value | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| * | Every hour | 0 * * * * |
| 0 | Midnight (12:00 AM) | 0 0 * * * |
| 12 | Noon (12:00 PM) | 0 12 * * * |
| */6 | Every 6 hours (0, 6, 12, 18) | 0 */6 * * * |
| 9-17 | Every hour from 9am to 5pm | 0 9-17 * * * |
| 0,12 | Midnight and noon | 0 0,12 * * * |
Valid Values
0
Minimum
23
Maximum
* , - /
Allowed special characters
Examples
99am only*/6Every 6 hours: midnight, 6am, noon, 6pm9-17Business hours: 9am through 5pm, once per hour0,12Midnight and noon2311pm — just before midnightPlatform Support
Platforms that include the Hour field:
Standard Linux/UnixGitHub ActionsGoogle Cloud SchedulerKubernetes CronJobAzure Functions (NCRONTAB)AWS EventBridgeQuartz SchedulerSpring @ScheduledJenkinsApache Airflow
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the hour field use 12-hour or 24-hour format? ▾
24-hour format only. Midnight is 0, noon is 12, 11pm is 23. There is no am/pm in cron expressions.
How do I schedule a job for 9am EST in a UTC cron scheduler? ▾
US Eastern Standard Time is UTC-5. So 9am EST = 14:00 UTC. Use hour=14 in your cron expression when targeting a UTC scheduler like GitHub Actions or AWS EventBridge.
Built & maintained by Danny Vargas
Last updated January 2026·Parsing runs in your browser — no expression leaves your device