Hourly
0 */2 * * *Run on even hours — 00:00, 02:00, … 22:00.
This preview is live: the table below shows the actual next run times for 0 */2 * * * in your time zone, recomputed in your browser. Change the expression, dialect, or zone to experiment, then copy the result.
0 */2 * * * means0 */2 * * * puts the step in the hour field: fire at minute 0 of every even hour. That is twelve runs a day, starting at midnight and ending at 22:00. It is the standard cadence for jobs that should run several times a day but do not need to be hourly.
Even-hour scheduling is predictable and log-friendly, and it lines up with shift-style operational rhythms. If you need odd hours instead, anchor the step explicitly with 0 1-23/2 * * *.
Unix cron has five fields. Here is what each one is doing in this expression:
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | minute = 0 |
| Hour | */2 | every 2 (step) across hour |
| Day of month | * | every day-of-month |
| Month | * | every month |
| Day of week | * | every day-of-week |
The same cadence written for the seven cron dialects you are most likely to meet. Copy the line for the system you target — the field count and day-of-week numbering differ between them.
| Scheduler | Expression | Copy |
|---|---|---|
| Unix / crontab | 0 */2 * * * | |
| GitHub Actions | 0 */2 * * * | |
| Kubernetes CronJob | 0 */2 * * * | |
| Vercel Cron | 0 */2 * * * | |
| Quartz | 0 0 */2 * * * * | |
| Spring | 0 0 */2 * * * | |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 */2 * * * * |
0 */2 * * **/2 in the hour field is anchored to hour 0, so it covers even hours only. 0 0-23/2 is the same thing written long-hand; 0 1-23/2 shifts it to odd hours.
0 */2 * * * means: Run on even hours — 00:00, 02:00, … 22:00. 0 */2 * * * puts the step in the hour field: fire at minute 0 of every even hour. That is twelve runs a day, starting at midnight and ending at 22:00. It is the standard cadence for jobs that should run several times a day but do not need to be hourly.
Use 0 */2 * * * in the schedule's cron field. */2 in the hour field is anchored to hour 0, so it covers even hours only. 0 0-23/2 is the same thing written long-hand; 0 1-23/2 shifts it to odd hours.
EventBridge uses six fields with a required year and a ? placeholder in one day field: 0 */2 * * * *. Wrap it as cron(0 */2 * * * *) in the console or CloudFormation.
Quartz is seconds-first with a trailing year, so the equivalent is 0 0 */2 * * * *. Remember Quartz numbers Sunday as 1, the opposite of Unix.
Browse the full set of cron pattern pages, or jump to the interactive tools: the cron expression builder for designing a schedule from scratch, the cron cheat sheet for a side-by-side reference, the cron timezone translator for moving a schedule between zones and dialects, and the GitHub Actions cron picker for DST-stable CI schedules.