0 */2 * * *
Cron reads this as: minute 0, past every 2nd hour.
Next 5 runs
Computed in your browser's local time zone. Cron itself evaluates against the server's zone, which on most cloud hosts is UTC — see time zones & DST if that distinction matters here.
- Calculating…
When to use this schedule
Twelve runs a day at 00:00, 02:00, 04:00 and so on through 22:00. Suits incremental backups, medium-weight syncs and report refreshes where hourly would be wasteful.
What to watch out for
The classic error here is * */2 * * * — with a wildcard minute that runs sixty times in each of those hours, 720 times a day instead of 12. The minute field must be a fixed value. Also note the cycle is anchored to midnight, so "every 2 hours" means the even hours specifically, not two hours from whenever you installed the job.
The crontab line
0 */2 * * * /usr/local/bin/your-job.sh >> /var/log/your-job.log 2>&1Redirect the output somewhere you will actually read it — by default cron mails it, and on a host with no mail transport that means it is discarded. See the crontab guide for the surrounding syntax.
Related schedules
| Expression | Schedule |
|---|---|
* */2 * * * | The common mistake — 720 runs/day |
0 */3 * * * | Every 3 hours |
0 */4 * * * | Every 4 hours |
Build your own
Need something this page does not cover? Compose it field by field in the visual builder, or paste an expression you already have into the explainer for a per-field breakdown. The examples library collects sixty schedules in one place, and the guides cover crontab syntax, time zones, troubleshooting and production practices.