Cheat Sheets · Cron Cheat Sheet · Cron Quarterly (Every 3 Months) — Crontab Example

Cron Quarterly (Every 3 Months) — Crontab Example

0 0 1 1,4,7,10 *

Runs on the 1st of January, April, July, and October at 00:00 (midnight).

Field by field

Field	Value	Meaning
`Minute`	`0`	At minute 0
`Hour`	`0`	At midnight (00:00)
`Day of month`	`1`	1st day of the month
`Month`	`1,4,7,10`	January, April, July, October (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)
`Day of week`	`*`	Any day of the week

Quarterly cycles (financial quarters Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) start on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1. Listing months 1,4,7,10 or writing 1-12/3 gives you this clean 4-times-a-year trigger.

0 0 1 1,4,7,10 * /usr/local/bin/quarterly-tax-report.sh

Related schedules

0 0 1 * * Every month on the 1st 0 0 1 1 * Yearly on Jan 1st 0 0 * * 0 Weekly on Sunday

FAQ

Is 1,4,7,10 the same as 1-12/3?
Yes, 1-12/3 starts at month 1 and steps every 3 months (1, 4, 7, 10). Both are valid.

Can I run at the end of each quarter instead?
End-of-quarter months are March (31), June (30), September (30), and December (31). Because day counts differ, run on the 1st of the following quarter or use a script check.

Does cron have an @quarterly shorthand?
No standard @quarterly shorthand exists in POSIX cron; use the explicit expression.

Stop memorizing — build it interactively

Try this schedule in the Cron Editor

Full reference: Cron Cheat Sheet