Home โบ Azure Functions โบ Every day at midnight
Azure Functions cron expression: every day at midnight
To run a Azure Functions job every day at midnight, use:
0 0 0 * * *At 00:00 UTC.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
The default nightly slot. Everything that can wait until the day is over runs here.
- Daily reports for the previous day
- Archiving old records
- Resetting daily counters or quotas
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC:
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Sat, 02 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 3 | Sun, 03 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Mon, 04 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 5 | Tue, 05 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 6 | Wed, 06 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
Every day at midnight in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Azure Functions (this page) | 0 0 0 * * * |
| Quartz | 0 0 0 * * ? |
| Spring | 0 0 0 * * * |
| Crontab | 0 0 * * * |
| Kubernetes | 0 0 * * * |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 0 * * ? * |
| Jenkins | H 0 * * * |
| GitHub Actions | 0 0 * * * |
| node-cron | 0 0 * * * |
| Apache Airflow | 0 0 * * * |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 0 * * * |
Need to translate a different expression? Use the cron converter.
Ready-to-use Azure Functions config
Drop this into your project. The expression is the one above.
[Function("MyTimer")]
public void Run([TimerTrigger("0 0 0 * * *")] TimerInfo timer)
{
// ...
}WEBSITE_TIME_ZONE=Eastern Standard Time # Windows name; Linux uses America/New_York
# Without it, NCRONTAB runs in UTC.The Azure Functions fields, in order: second (0-59), minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), day-of-week (0-6, 0 = Sunday).
Things to watch out for in Azure Functions
- The format is {second} {minute} {hour} {day} {month} {day-of-week}; five fields are accepted too. The default time zone is UTC.
- Azure Functions evaluates NCRONTAB in UTC unless the WEBSITE_TIME_ZONE app setting is set; with it, the schedule adjusts for daylight saving. The setting is not supported on Linux Consumption or Flex Consumption plans.
The common mistake with this schedule
Midnight is the busiest minute on many shared systems. If your job is not time-critical, run it at 02:17 instead of 00:00.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Azure Functions job every day at midnight?
Use 0 0 0 * * *. At 00:00 UTC.
What is the every day at midnight cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 0 * * ?; Spring: 0 0 0 * * *; Crontab: 0 0 * * *. The table on this page lists every dialect.
Which time zone does Azure Functions use for this schedule?
Azure Functions evaluates NCRONTAB in UTC unless the WEBSITE_TIME_ZONE app setting is set; with it, the schedule adjusts for daylight saving. The setting is not supported on Linux Consumption or Flex Consumption plans.