Cheat Sheets · Cron Cheat Sheet · Cron Daily at 1 AM — Crontab Example

Cron Daily at 1 AM — Crontab Example

0 1 * * *

Runs once every day at 01:00 AM.

Field by field

Field	Value	Meaning
`Minute`	`0`	At minute 0
`Hour`	`1`	At 1 AM
`Day of month`	`*`	Every day
`Month`	`*`	Every month
`Day of week`	`*`	Every day of the week

System administrators frequently choose 01:00 AM over midnight (00:00) because midnight is crowded with log rotation, billing rollups, and default system maintenance jobs. Shifting your backup window to 1 AM drastically reduces I/O contention.

0 1 * * * /usr/local/bin/nightly-backup.sh

Related schedules

0 0 * * * Daily at midnight 0 8 * * * Daily at 8 AM 0 9 * * 1-5 Weekdays at 9 AM

FAQ

Why schedule backups at 1 AM instead of midnight?
Midnight is the default for automated OS tasks. Staggering your task to 1 AM gives lower CPU and disk load.

What happens during daylight saving time (fall back)?
On fall-back day, 01:00 AM may occur twice in local timezones. Running your server in UTC eliminates this issue.

How do I run at 1:30 AM instead?
Change the minute field: 30 1 * * *.

Stop memorizing — build it interactively

Try this schedule in the Cron Editor

Full reference: Cron Cheat Sheet