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Development & Monitoring

Every 4 hours

System status report. This page shows you how to implement this cron schedule with detailed examples and execution times.

6
Runs per day
10
Next executions
11
Expression length

Cron Expression

0 */4 * * *

Human Readable

Every 4 hours

Field Breakdown

Field Value Meaning
Minute 0 When during the hour (0-59)
Hour */4 What hour of the day (0-23)
Day * What day of the month (1-31)
Month * What month (1-12)
Day of Week * What day of the week (0-7, 0=Sunday)

Next 10 Execution Times

2026-07-28 12:00:00 UTC
2026-07-28 16:00:00 UTC
2026-07-28 20:00:00 UTC
2026-07-29 00:00:00 UTC
2026-07-29 04:00:00 UTC
2026-07-29 08:00:00 UTC
2026-07-29 12:00:00 UTC
2026-07-29 16:00:00 UTC
2026-07-29 20:00:00 UTC
2026-07-30 00:00:00 UTC

Note: Times shown in UTC. Adjust for your local timezone as needed.

Implementation Examples

Linux Crontab

0 */4 * * * /path/to/your/script.sh

Add this line to your crontab file using crontab -e

Docker Compose

services:
  cron-job:
    image: your-app:latest
    command: |
      sh -c 'echo "0 */4 * * * /app/script.sh" | crontab - && crond -f'

Kubernetes CronJob

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: every-4-hours
spec:
  schedule: "0 */4 * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: job
            image: your-app:latest
            command: ["/app/script.sh"]
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

GitHub Actions

name: Every 4 hours
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 */4 * * *'
jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run task
        run: ./script.sh

Common Use Cases

System status report

  • • Application health monitoring
  • • Performance metrics collection
  • • Security scans and audits
  • • Automated testing and CI/CD

Test This Expression

Use our free cron tools to test and validate this expression: