Cron for Weekdays at 9 AM Explained

Weekday morning jobs — reports, reminders, warm caches — usually mean: minute 0, hour 9, Monday through Friday. In classic five-field cron that is:

0 9 * * 1-5

Read it as: at 09:00 on weekdays, every month, any day-of-month.

Field map for 0 9 * * 1-5

Field	Value	Meaning
Minute	0	On the hour
Hour	9	9 AM in the scheduler’s timezone
Day of month	*	Any
Month	*	Any
Day of week	1-5	Monday–Friday on most Unix crons

Monday only vs weekdays

Goal	Expression
Weekdays at 09:00	0 9 * * 1-5
Monday at 09:00	0 9 * * 1
Weekdays at 09:30	30 9 * * 1-5

Watch day-of-week numbering: many systems use 0 or 7 for Sunday and 1 for Monday. Quartz-style engines may differ. Confirm your platform’s docs before shipping.

Practical caveats

1. Timezone — “9 AM” is 9 AM where the host or SaaS says it is (often UTC). See timezone traps in the hourly/midnight guide.
2. Holidays — cron does not know public holidays; weekdays still fire.
3. Six-field cron — a leading seconds field means 0 0 9 * * 1-5 on some engines.
4. DOM + DOW both set — classic Vixie cron treats that combo as OR; prefer * in day-of-month for simple weekday jobs.

Use TryDevSnip Cron Helper

TryDevSnip Cron Helper explains the expression in plain English and previews upcoming runs so you can verify weekdays-at-9 before production.

Also see: every 5 minutes and hourly / midnight.

Privacy one-liner: expressions are parsed locally; nothing is uploaded.

FAQ

Is MON-FRI allowed?

Some crons accept names (MON-FRI). Numeric 1-5 is more portable across cloud schedulers.

Why did it fire on Saturday?

Wrong DOW numbering, or the platform uses Sunday=1. Preview next runs on a calendar.

Does this skip company holidays?

No. Add an app-level holiday calendar if you need that.

How do I test without waiting until Monday?

Use a helper that lists next fire times, or temporarily use a denser schedule in staging.