Cron Reference

Cron Every Day at 4 PM

Cron expression 0 16 * * * means At 4:00 PM.

Cron expression to run a job every day at 4:00 PM: 0 16 * * *. Commonly used for tasks that need to complete before end of business hours or to start after-hours processing early.

Cron Expression

0 16 * * *
0Minute
16Hour
*Day
*Month
*Weekday

Common use cases

  • Generating end-of-business-day summaries
  • Triggering after-hours batch jobs early
  • Running pre-close data validation scripts
  • Sending daily digest emails before the workday ends

Want to customize this schedule?

Open it in the visual builder to tweak the expression interactively.

Open in Builder

Need to monitor this cron job?

Cronhub tracks your scheduled jobs and alerts you if they fail or run late.

Monitor with Cronhub

Platform usage examples

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

# Add this line to run every day at 4 pm
0 16 * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php

# Or run a shell script
0 16 * * * /home/user/scripts/job.sh >> /var/log/job.log 2>&1
GitHub Actions
# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
name: Scheduled Job

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 16 * * *'

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run job
        run: echo "Running every day at 4 pm"
Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: my-scheduled-job
spec:
  schedule: "0 16 * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: job
            image: my-image:latest
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

Related developer tools

More free tools for engineering workflows that pair with scheduled jobs:

Frequently asked questions

What is the cron expression for every day at 4 pm?

The cron expression is 0 16 * * *. Cron expression to run a job every day at 4:00 PM: 0 16 * * *. Commonly used for tasks that need to complete before end of business hours or to start after-hours processing early.

How do I schedule a cron job to run every day at 4 pm in Linux?

Open your crontab with "crontab -e" and add a new line: 0 16 * * * /path/to/your/script.sh — this schedules your script to run every day at 4 pm. Save and exit; the cron daemon picks up the change immediately.

What does the cron expression "0 16 * * *" mean?

Cron expression to run a job every day at 4:00 PM: 0 16 * * *. Commonly used for tasks that need to complete before end of business hours or to start after-hours processing early.

Can I use "0 16 * * *" in GitHub Actions?

Yes. In your workflow YAML, set the schedule trigger: on: schedule: - cron: '0 16 * * *'. GitHub Actions uses standard 5-field Unix cron syntax, so this expression works as-is.

Related cron schedules

More Free Developer Tools