Cron Every Day at 2 AM
The 2 in the hour field means 02:00, and 0 in the minute field pins it to the top of the hour. With * for the date fields, the job runs at 2:00 AM every day — a popular low-traffic maintenance window.
Cron Expression
0 2 * * *Field Breakdown
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | At minute 0 |
| Hour | 2 | At 02:00 (2 AM) |
| Day of Month | * | Every day (1-31) |
| Month | * | Every month (1-12) |
| Day of Week | * | Every day of the week |
Variations
0 2 * * *Every day at 2 AM0 2 * * 02 AM every Sunday (weekly maintenance)30 2 * * *Every day at 2:30 AMCommon Use Cases
- Nightly backups during off-peak hours
- Database maintenance and reindexing
- Log rotation and cleanup
Tips & Best Practices
2-4 AM is a common maintenance window because traffic is usually lowest.
Avoid exactly 0 0 (midnight) — many default jobs run then, causing contention.
Watch for daylight-saving transitions, which can skip or repeat the 2 AM hour in some zones.