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Jenkins cron expression: every 6 hours
To run a Jenkins job every 6 hours, use:
H */6 * * *At a hashed minute (Jenkins picks it from the job name), every 6 hours.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
Four runs a day at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00. A popular backup and report rhythm.
- Incremental backups
- Re-crawling sitemaps
- Recomputing leaderboards
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, 06:00:00 |
| 3 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 12:00:00 |
| 4 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 18:00:00 |
| 5 | Sat, 02 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 6 | Sat, 02 Jan 2027, 06:00:00 |
Every 6 hours in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Jenkins (this page) | H */6 * * * |
| Quartz | 0 0 */6 * * ? |
| Spring | 0 0 */6 * * * |
| Crontab | 0 */6 * * * |
| Kubernetes | 0 */6 * * * |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 */6 * * ? * |
| GitHub Actions | 0 */6 * * * |
| node-cron | 0 */6 * * * |
| Apache Airflow | 0 */6 * * * |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 */6 * * * |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 */6 * * * |
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 */6 * * *') }
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 hours are fixed on the clock, not relative to when you deployed. Deploying at 07:00 does not make the next run 13:00.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Jenkins job every 6 hours?
Use H */6 * * *. At a hashed minute (Jenkins picks it from the job name), every 6 hours.
What is the every 6 hours cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 */6 * * ?; Spring: 0 0 */6 * * *; Crontab: 0 */6 * * *. 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.