How do I restrict a cron job to weekdays only?

Set the day-of-week field to 1-5 (Monday through Friday). Combined with an hour range, this limits execution to working hours on weekdays.

Can cron run a job every 30 minutes but only during business hours?

Yes. Use */30 in the minute field and 9-17 in the hour field: */30 9-17 * * 1-5 fires at :00 and :30 past every hour between 9 AM and 5 PM on weekdays.

How do I schedule a Monday morning digest email?

Use 0 9 * * 1 to fire once at 9 AM every Monday. Adjust the hour to match your recipients' timezone.

Cron Schedules for Business Hours

Many jobs should only run when people are at work — report emails, Slack digests, and customer-facing batch imports. These cron expressions target weekday windows from early morning through end of day. The parser translates each expression into a human-readable description so you can confirm it covers exactly the hours you expect. Avoid running heavy jobs at the start of the hour when many cron systems fire simultaneously.

Example

0 9 * * 1-5
0 17 * * 1-5
0 8-18 * * 1-5
*/30 9-17 * * 1-5
0 9 * * 1
0 16 * * 5
0 8 * * 1-5
0 12 * * 1-5

[ open in Cron Parser → ]

FAQ

How do I restrict a cron job to weekdays only?: Set the day-of-week field to 1-5 (Monday through Friday). Combined with an hour range, this limits execution to working hours on weekdays.
Can cron run a job every 30 minutes but only during business hours?: Yes. Use */30 in the minute field and 9-17 in the hour field: */30 9-17 * * 1-5 fires at :00 and :30 past every hour between 9 AM and 5 PM on weekdays.
How do I schedule a Monday morning digest email?: Use 0 9 * * 1 to fire once at 9 AM every Monday. Adjust the hour to match your recipients' timezone.

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