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Jenkins cron expression: every 2 hours
To run a Jenkins job every 2 hours, use:
H */2 * * *At a hashed minute (Jenkins picks it from the job name), every 2 hours.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
Twelve runs a day, at even hours (00:00, 02:00, 04:00 and so on). It halves the load of an hourly job while still catching changes within a couple of hours.
- Pulling analytics exports
- Rebalancing a recommendation cache
- Checking certificate expiry
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC (the hashed H offset is shown as its range start):
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 02:00:00 |
| 3 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 04:00:00 |
| 4 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 06:00:00 |
| 5 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 08:00:00 |
| 6 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 10:00:00 |
Every 2 hours in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Jenkins (this page) | H */2 * * * |
| Quartz | 0 0 */2 * * ? |
| Spring | 0 0 */2 * * * |
| Crontab | 0 */2 * * * |
| Kubernetes | 0 */2 * * * |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 */2 * * ? * |
| GitHub Actions | 0 */2 * * * |
| node-cron | 0 */2 * * * |
| Apache Airflow | 0 */2 * * * |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 */2 * * * |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 */2 * * * |
Need to translate a different expression? Use the cron converter.
Ready-to-use Jenkins config
Drop this into your project. The expression is the one above.
pipeline {
agent any
triggers { cron('H */2 * * *') }
stages {
stage('Build') { steps { echo 'Scheduled build' } }
}
}The Jenkins fields, in order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), day-of-week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday).
Things to watch out for in Jenkins
- H/15 starts every 15 minutes at a hashed offset per job, which avoids every job firing at :00. The preview here assumes an offset of 0.
- Use H instead of a fixed minute to spread load. H 2 * * * means "once during the 2 AM hour", at a stable per-job minute.
- Jenkins uses the controller's time zone. Put TZ=Asia/Kolkata on its own first line of the trigger to override it.
The common mistake with this schedule
The step restarts at midnight, so */2 always means the even hours. If you need odd hours use 1-23/2.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Jenkins job every 2 hours?
Use H */2 * * *. At a hashed minute (Jenkins picks it from the job name), every 2 hours.
What is the every 2 hours cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 */2 * * ?; Spring: 0 0 */2 * * *; Crontab: 0 */2 * * *. The table on this page lists every dialect.
Which time zone does Jenkins use for this schedule?
Jenkins uses the controller's time zone. Put TZ=Asia/Kolkata on its own first line of the trigger to override it.