Cron Every 4 Hours
The 0 in the minute field pins the job to the top of the hour, and */4 in the hour field means "every 4th hour." The job runs at 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00, and 20:00 — six times per day.
Cron Expression
0 */4 * * *Field Breakdown
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | At minute 0 (top of the hour) |
| Hour | */4 | Every 4th hour (0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20) |
| Day of Month | * | Every day (1-31) |
| Month | * | Every month (1-12) |
| Day of Week | * | Every day of the week (0-6) |
Variations
0 */4 * * *Every 4 hours, on the hour15 */4 * * *Every 4 hours at quarter past (00:15, 04:15, …)0 */4 * * 1-5Every 4 hours on weekdays onlyCommon Use Cases
- Batch processing and ETL jobs
- Periodic report generation
- Refreshing dashboards and aggregated metrics
Tips & Best Practices
Set the minute field explicitly — */4 alone in the hour with * minutes runs every minute of those hours.
Since 4 divides evenly into 24, run times stay consistent day to day.
Offset the minute (e.g. 15 or 30) to avoid the crowded top-of-hour window.