Cron Reference

Cron Expression 0 13 * * 1-5 Meaning: Crontab Weekdays at 1 PM

0 13 * * 1-5 means a job runs at 1:00 PM Monday through Friday. It skips Saturday and Sunday. 0 is minute zero, 13 is 1 PM on the 24-hour clock, * * means every day and month, and 1-5 limits the run to weekdays.

0 13 * * 1-5 means 1:00 PM Monday-Friday in cron/crontab. Do not confuse it with 0 5 * * * daily 5 AM or six-field 0 */5 * * * * every 5 minutes.

Exact meanings for these cron searches

Fast check for this query cluster: cron expression or crontab `0 13 * * 1-5` means weekday 1 PM, `0 5 * * *` means daily 5 AM, six-field `0 */5 * * * *` means every 5 minutes, and a final bare `5` means Friday-only.

cron expression 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning

0 13 * * 1-5

A job runs at 1:00 PM Monday through Friday. It skips Saturday and Sunday.

0 is minute zero, 13 is 1 PM on the 24-hour clock, * * means every day and month, and 1-5 limits the run to weekdays.

Use this form0 13 * * 1-5 /path/to/script.sh

crontab 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning

0 13 * * 1-5

Same answer in crontab wording: run once at 1:00 PM on weekdays only.

Use this for a 2026 weekday afternoon cron job; it is not a daily 5 AM schedule and it does not run every five minutes.

Use this form0 13 * * 1-5 /path/to/script.sh

crontab expression 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning

0 13 * * 1-5

Runs at 13:00, or 1:00 PM, every Monday through Friday.

This is the same schedule as the crontab query above; the wording changes, but the fields do not.

Use this form0 13 * * 1-5 /path/to/script.sh

cron expression 0 5 * * * meaning

0 5 * * *

Runs every day at 5:00 AM in the scheduler timezone.

The 5 is in the hour field, so it means 5 AM. The last three asterisks allow every day, month, and weekday.

Use this form0 5 * * * /path/to/script.sh

cron expression 0 */5 * * * * meaning

0 */5 * * * *

In six-field Quartz or Spring cron, runs every 5 minutes at second zero.

For standard five-field Unix cron, use */5 * * * * instead.

Use this form0 */5 * * * *

cron expression 0 10 * * 5 meaning

0 10 * * 5

Runs every Friday at 10:00 AM.

The weekday field 5 selects Friday in standard Unix cron.

Use this form0 10 * * 5 /path/to/script.sh

cron expression 0 18 * * 5 meaning

0 18 * * 5

Runs every Friday at 6:00 PM.

The hour field 18 is 6 PM on the 24-hour clock, and weekday 5 selects Friday.

Use this form0 18 * * 5 /path/to/script.sh

cron expression 0 20 * * 5 meaning

0 20 * * 5

Runs every Friday at 8:00 PM.

The hour field 20 is 8 PM on the 24-hour clock, and weekday 5 keeps the schedule Friday-only.

Use this form0 20 * * 5 /path/to/script.sh

Cron Expression

0 13 * * 1-5
0Minute
13Hour
*Day
*Month
1-5Weekday

Field-by-field meaning

Minute 0
start at minute zero
Hour 13
run at 13:00, or 1:00 PM
Day of month *
allow every day of the month
Month *
allow every month
Weekday 1-5
limit runs to Monday through Friday

Common use cases

  • Weekday 1:00 PM business jobs that should skip weekends
  • Checking whether crontab 0 13 * * 1-5 means weekdays or daily
  • Comparing daily 5:00 AM cron against weekday 1:00 PM cron
  • Decoding Friday-only crons like 0 10 * * 5, 0 18 * * 5, and 0 20 * * 5

How to use this cron schedule

The direct answer for cron expression 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning, crontab 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning, and crontab expression 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning is: run at 1:00 PM Monday through Friday. The first 0 is minute zero, 13 is the hour on the 24-hour clock, the two middle asterisks allow every day of month and every month, and 1-5 limits the schedule to weekdays. It skips Saturday and Sunday.

Most confusion comes from the position of the number 5. In 0 13 * * 1-5, the 5 is part of the weekday range Monday-Friday. It is not 5 AM, and it is not an every-five-minutes interval. Count the fields before copying: five-field cron starts with minute and hour, while six-field cron usually starts with seconds.

Cron expression 0 5 * * * is a different schedule because the 5 sits in the hour field. It runs once per day at 5:00 AM server time with no weekday filter. Use 0 13 * * 1-5 for weekday 1 PM jobs, and use 0 5 * * * only when you want a daily early-morning job.

If your query included 0 */5 * * * *, check the cron format before copying it. In six-field Quartz or Spring cron, the leading 0 is the seconds field and */5 in the minute field means every 5 minutes. In standard five-field Unix cron, the equivalent every-5-minutes expression is */5 * * * *.

Friday-only searches follow the same field logic. Cron expression 0 10 * * 5 means Friday at 10:00 AM, 0 18 * * 5 means Friday at 6:00 PM, and 0 20 * * 5 means Friday at 8:00 PM. The final 5 is the weekday selector for Friday in standard Unix cron.

When deciding which answer matches your search, count the fields first. Five fields means standard Unix crontab with minute, hour, day of month, month, and weekday. Six fields usually means Quartz or Spring cron with seconds first. Then look at the last field: `1-5` means Monday through Friday, while `5` means Friday only.

For 2026 production jobs, document whether the scheduler uses UTC or local server time before shipping any of these expressions. GitHub Actions uses UTC, while Linux crontab often follows the host timezone. Add clear logs, idempotent writes, and last-success monitoring so a weekday 1 PM job or daily 5 AM job is easy to verify after deployment.

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Platform usage examples

Linux / Unix — crontab
# Edit your crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run expression 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning: crontab weekdays at 1 pm
0 13 * * 1-5 /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php

# Or run a shell script
0 13 * * 1-5 /home/user/scripts/job.sh >> /var/log/job.log 2>&1
GitHub Actions
# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
name: Scheduled Job

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 13 * * 1-5'

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run job
        run: echo "Running expression 0 13 * * 1-5 meaning: crontab weekdays at 1 pm"
Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: my-scheduled-job
spec:
  schedule: "0 13 * * 1-5"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: job
            image: my-image:latest
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

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Frequently asked questions

What does cron expression 0 13 * * 1-5 mean?

Cron expression 0 13 * * 1-5 means run at 1:00 PM Monday through Friday. The 0 is minute zero, 13 is 1 PM in 24-hour time, the two asterisks mean every day of month and every month, and 1-5 limits execution to weekdays.

What does crontab 0 13 * * 1-5 mean?

Crontab 0 13 * * 1-5 means the same thing as the cron expression version: run once at 1:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It does not run on Saturday or Sunday.

What does crontab expression 0 13 * * 1-5 mean?

Crontab expression 0 13 * * 1-5 means run at 13:00, or 1:00 PM, every weekday Monday through Friday. The final field 1-5 is the weekday range.

Does 0 13 * * 1-5 run daily or only on weekdays?

0 13 * * 1-5 runs only on weekdays, Monday through Friday, because the final field is 1-5. It is not the same as 0 5 * * *, which runs every day at 5:00 AM.

Is the 5 in 0 13 * * 1-5 a 5 AM hour?

No. In 0 13 * * 1-5, the hour field is 13, so the job runs at 1:00 PM. The 5 appears inside the weekday range 1-5, which means Monday through Friday.

What does cron expression 0 5 * * * mean?

Cron expression 0 5 * * * means run once every day at 5:00 AM server time. It is a daily schedule, not every 5 minutes, because the 5 is in the hour field.

What does cron expression 0 */5 * * * * mean?

In six-field Quartz or Spring cron, 0 */5 * * * * means run every 5 minutes at second zero. In standard five-field Unix cron, the equivalent every-5-minutes expression is */5 * * * *.

What does cron expression 0 10 * * 5 mean?

Cron expression 0 10 * * 5 means run every Friday at 10:00 AM. The final field 5 selects Friday in standard Unix cron.

What does cron expression 0 18 * * 5 mean?

Cron expression 0 18 * * 5 means run every Friday at 6:00 PM. The hour field 18 is 6 PM in 24-hour time, and the final 5 selects Friday.

What does cron expression 0 20 * * 5 mean?

Cron expression 0 20 * * 5 means run every Friday at 8:00 PM. The hour field 20 is 8 PM in 24-hour time, and the final 5 selects Friday.

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