Weekly Cron Expressions - Day of Week Scheduling

Master weekly cron scheduling with day-of-week patterns. Schedule jobs on specific days, weekdays only, weekends, or custom day combinations using ready-to-use cron syntax.

Popular Weekly Schedules

Monday

0 9 * * 1

Every Monday at 9 AM - start of business week

Common uses:

  • Weekly kickoff reports
  • Task queue reset
  • Week planning
  • Status updates

Friday

0 9 * * 5

Every Friday at 9 AM - end of business week

Common uses:

  • Weekly summaries
  • Backup tasks
  • Cleanup jobs
  • End-of-week reports

Weekdays

0 9 * * 1-5

Weekdays (Mon-Fri) at 9 AM

Common uses:

  • Business day processing
  • Work notifications
  • Daily standups
  • Report generation

Day numbers:

1-5

Weekends

0 9 * * 0,6

Weekends (Sat & Sun) at 9 AM

Common uses:

  • Weekend maintenance
  • Low-priority tasks
  • Batch jobs
  • System optimization

Day numbers:

0,6

MWF

0 9 * * 1,3,5

Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 9 AM

Common uses:

  • Alternating day reports
  • Team meetings
  • Data exports
  • Status checks

Day numbers:

1,3,5

TTh

0 9 * * 2,4

Tuesday & Thursday at 9 AM

Common uses:

  • Bi-weekly reviews
  • Alternating tasks
  • Report generation
  • Team syncs

Day numbers:

2,4

Mon at midnight

0 0 * * 1

Monday at midnight - weekly reset

Common uses:

  • Weekly cleanup
  • Log rotation
  • Database maintenance
  • Cache clearing

Sunday at midnight

0 0 * * 0

Sunday at midnight - week-end processing

Common uses:

  • Full weekly backup
  • Data archival
  • Index rebuilding
  • Analytics compilation

Fri at 5 PM

0 17 * * 5

Friday at 5 PM - end of work week

Common uses:

  • Weekly reports
  • Timesheet reminders
  • Status summaries
  • Handoff tasks

Complete Reference - All Days of the Week

Sunday
0 9 * * 0
Monday
0 9 * * 1
Tuesday
0 9 * * 2
Wednesday
0 9 * * 3
Thursday
0 9 * * 4
Friday
0 9 * * 5
Saturday
0 9 * * 6

Day-of-Week Quick Reference

0
Sunday
1
Monday
2
Tuesday
3
Wednesday
4
Thursday
5
Friday
6
Saturday
7
Sunday

Both 0 and 7 represent Sunday. Values 1-6 represent Monday through Saturday.

Weekly Scheduling Patterns

Day of Week Syntax

The fifth field in a cron expression specifies the day of week (0-7):

0-7 - Numeric values where both 0 and 7 represent Sunday
SUN, MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT - Three-letter day names (some implementations)
1-5 - Ranges to specify consecutive days (Monday through Friday)
1,3,5 - Lists to specify non-consecutive days (Mon, Wed, Fri)

Combining Days with Specific Times

Pair day-of-week with hour and minute fields for precise scheduling:

0 6 * * 1 - Monday at 6:00 AM
30 17 * * 5 - Friday at 5:30 PM
0 9-17 * * 1-5 - Every hour 9 AM-5 PM on weekdays

Common Gotcha: 0 vs 7 for Sunday

Both 0 and 7 represent Sunday in most cron implementations, but there are important differences:

  • 0 is the most portable and widely supported value for Sunday
  • 7 is supported by many modern implementations but not all
  • When using ranges, 0-6 is preferred over 1-7
  • For maximum compatibility, always use 0 for Sunday

Industry-Specific Examples

IT Operations

Monday maintenance0 3 * * 1
Friday backup0 23 * * 5
Weekend security scan0 2 * * 0,6
Weekday monitoring0 8 * * 1-5

Marketing

Monday campaign launch0 9 * * 1
Wednesday analytics0 10 * * 3
Friday social report0 16 * * 5
Weekend content prep0 10 * * 6

HR & Admin

Monday attendance report0 8 * * 1
Friday timesheet reminder0 15 * * 5
End-of-week compliance0 17 * * 5
Mid-week check-in0 10 * * 3

Data Engineering

Sunday full ETL0 1 * * 0
Wednesday incremental0 2 * * 3
Weekday data validation0 6 * * 1-5
Friday archive0 22 * * 5