PatternCron

Every 30 minutes, business hours only

Steps, a range and a weekday span in one expression: a half-hourly poll that goes quiet at night and on weekends.

Last updated

Pattern
*/30 9-17 * * 1-5
Open in Crontab Schedule Creator

In plain English

  • Fires at :00 and :30, 09:00–17:30, Mon–Fri
  • 18 runs per weekday

Why it’s written this way

Each field constrains independently and the job fires when ALL of them match: minute divisible by 30, hour between 9 and 17, weekday Monday–Friday. Three simple constraints compose into "half-hourly during working hours" without any single field being clever.

This shape — a step for frequency, a range for the window, a weekday span for the calendar — is the template for most "only while people are watching" schedules.

Edge cases to know

  • The 9-17 range is inclusive, so the LAST run is 17:30, not 17:00 — an off-by-half-hour that surprises people; use 9-16 to stop at 16:30.
  • The day-of-month/day-of-week OR rule doesn't bite here because day-of-month is starred — it only ambushes expressions that restrict both.

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