Cron every day at midnight

copy-ready in 7 dialects · next runs in your time zone

0 0 * * * — Minute 0 of hour 0, every day: once a day at 00:00. @daily and @midnight are shorthands for it in Linux cron, Kubernetes and Spring.

Cron expression

Dialect Time zone

Runs

Try one

The same schedule in every dialect

Where	Expression
Linux / Unix crontab, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions	0 0 * * *	explain
Quartz Scheduler	0 0 0 * * ?	explain
AWS EventBridge	cron(0 0 * * ? *) rate(1 day)	explain
Spring `@Scheduled`	0 0 0 * * *	explain
Jenkins	0 0 * * *	H calculator
systemd timer `OnCalendar=`	daily	test

AWS rate(1 day) repeats at a fixed interval from when the rule or schedule was created, so it is not aligned to the clock the way the cron() form is.

Things to know

"Midnight" is midnight in the scheduler's time zone. GitHub Actions and AWS EventBridge rules use UTC, so 00:00 there is not your midnight unless you live on UTC.
Jenkins' @midnight is not exactly midnight: it expands to H H(0-2) * * *, a per-job time between 00:00 and 02:59. Write 0 0 * * * for the exact minute.
Midnight is the busiest minute on most servers. 7 0 * * * (00:07) or 30 2 * * * are quieter — though 02:00–02:59 is skipped or repeated on DST change nights in many zones.
AWS rate(1 day) runs every 24 hours from when the rule was created, not at midnight; use the cron() form for a clock time.

Variations

Expression	Runs
30 6 * * *	every day at 06:30
0 0 * * 1-5	midnight on weekdays
0 12 * * *	every day at noon

How to use this schedule

Open your crontab with crontab -e (or the scheduler's config file).
Add a line with the expression followed by the command: 0 0 * * * /usr/local/bin/job.sh. Use absolute paths — cron runs with a minimal PATH.
Save. cron picks the change up automatically; check the next run times above, in the time zone your server uses.
Redirect output if you want to keep it: append >> /var/log/job.log 2>&1. The crontab line builder assembles the whole line.

FAQ

Is "0 0 * * *" the same on every server?

The five-field form means the same thing in Linux cron, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions and most libraries. The clock it follows differs: a Linux server uses its own time zone (or CRON_TZ on cronie), GitHub Actions and AWS EventBridge rules use UTC unless a time zone is configured, and Kubernetes uses the controller's zone unless .spec.timeZone is set.

Why do Quartz and AWS need a "?"

Both require exactly one of day-of-month and day-of-week to be ?, meaning "no specific value"; they refuse an expression that restricts both, or leaves both as *.

How do I check it will run when I expect?

The widget above lists the next runs in the time zone you choose, and flags any run that lands in a daylight-saving gap or a repeated hour. For a whole crontab, paste it into the crontab viewer.