Cron: Run at Noon, Monday to Friday
To run a cron job at noon on weekdays, use 0 12 * * 1-5. Hour 12 is midday in cron's 24-hour clock, minute 0 fires it on the hour, and 1-5 restricts it to Monday through Friday.
The expression
0 12 * * 1-5 runs at noon on weekdays. Copy it straight into your crontab with crontab -e.
Noon is hour 12
0 12 * * 1-5 runs once at 12:00 each weekday. Noon is hour 12, not 0 — hour 0 is midnight. For every day including weekends, drop the last field: 0 12 * * *.
Why 1-5 means Monday to Friday
The fifth field is day-of-week: 0 (or 7) is Sunday, 1 is Monday, up to 6 Saturday. The range 1-5 is Monday through Friday, so the job skips weekends automatically.
FAQ
What is the cron expression to run at noon on weekdays?
0 12 * * 1-5 — read it field by field: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week.
How do I limit a cron job to Monday-Friday?
Set the fifth field (day-of-week) to 1-5. 0 and 7 are Sunday, 6 is Saturday, so 1-5 is Monday through Friday and weekends are skipped.
Does cron count hours in 24-hour time?
Yes. The hour field is 0-23, where 0 is midnight, 12 is noon and 17 is 5 PM. There is no AM/PM in cron.