Cron Expression for Every 5 Minutes During Business Hours

Run a cron job every 5 minutes during business hours (9 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday) using */5 9-17 * * 1-5.

Expression

*/5 9-17 * * 1-5

Every 5 minutes from 09:00 to 17:00, Monday through Friday

Use Cases

• Monitoring production systems during business hours
• Polling for new orders or support tickets during the workday
• Refreshing live dashboards for office displays
• Running frequent data syncs only when staff is active

Code Examples

Crontab

# Every 5 minutes from 09:00 to 17:00, Monday through Friday
*/5 9-17 * * 1-5 /path/to/your/script.sh

GitHub Actions

name: Scheduled Job
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/5 9-17 * * 1-5'
jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: echo "Running Every 5 Minutes (9 AM to 5 PM, Weekdays)"

systemd Timer

[Unit]
Description=Every 5 Minutes (9 AM to 5 PM, Weekdays) timer

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:*:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Tips

✓ Runs 108 times per weekday (12 per hour times 9 hours)
✓ Saves resources by not running during nights and weekends
✓ Combine multiple constraints: step, range, and weekday
✓ A common pattern for business-critical monitoring

Frequently Asked Questions

How many times does this run per week?

It runs 12 times per hour (every 5 minutes) for 9 hours (9 AM to 5 PM) across 5 weekdays, totaling 540 executions per week.

Can I change it to every 10 minutes during business hours?

Yes, replace */5 with */10: */10 9-17 * * 1-5 runs every 10 minutes during the same business hours window.

Related Cron Expressions

Business Hours Only 0 9-17 * * 1-5 Every 5 Minutes */5 * * * * Hourly During Business Hours 0 9-17 * * 1-5