Run Daily at 11 PM | CronBase

cron expression Standard
$ 0 23 * * 1

Every Monday at 11 PM

0
Minute
23
Hour
*
Day of Month
*
Month
1
Day of Week

* In a Nutshell

The cron expression 0 23 * * 1 runs Every Monday at 11 PM. Scheduling critical tasks like data backups or report generation at the end of the business week ensures that operations are completed before the weekend starts. This prevents weekend data staleness and provides a clean slate for Monday's activities, minimizing potential weekend disruptions.

* When to use this

Use 0 23 * * 1 when a recurring task needs to run Every Monday at 11 PM. This schedule is commonly associated with daily schedules and report generation and weekday schedules workloads. It uses Standard (5-Field POSIX) syntax, supported by Unix cron daemons, cloud schedulers such as AWS EventBridge, and container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes CronJob.

CronBase parses 0 23 * * 1 using a dialect-aware rules engine that identifies the Standard (5-Field POSIX) format, validates field structure against the Standard (5-Field POSIX) specification, and produces the translation above. Next run times are calculated by forward-scanning from the current UTC clock. Learn how CronBase works.

Platform Implementations

Bash

Prerequisites

Unix/Linux host with a cron daemon running (vixie-cron, cronie, or systemd-cron). The script at /usr/local/bin/run-task.sh must exist and be executable (chmod +x).

Configuration

Run crontab -e to open the crontab editor. Cron reads the server's local timezone; prefix with CRON_TZ=UTC before the expression to pin to UTC. Always redirect output with >> /var/log/cron-tasks.log 2>&1 to capture both stdout and stderr.

Gotchas

Cron jobs inherit a minimal PATH — use full binary paths or set PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin at the top of the crontab. For sub-hourly schedules, add flock -n /tmp/run-task.lock before the command to skip overlapping runs if the previous execution is still running.

bash
# Add to crontab with: crontab -e
0 23 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/run-task.sh >> /var/log/cron-tasks.log 2>&1

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Nodejs

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ with node-cron installed (npm install node-cron). Add "type": "module" to package.json to use the import syntax shown above.

Configuration

Pass { timezone: 'UTC' } as the third argument to cron.schedule(). Without this option the schedule uses the Node.js process timezone, which shifts during DST transitions when servers are not pinned to UTC.

Gotchas

node-cron uses standard 5-field cron syntax — not Quartz 6-field. If your job runs longer than the schedule interval the next trigger fires while the previous is still executing. Use a boolean guard or a queue to skip concurrent runs rather than relying on the scheduler to enforce it.

nodejs
import cron from 'node-cron';

cron.schedule('0 23 * * 1', async () => {
  console.log('[cron] running at', new Date().toISOString());
  // your task logic here
}, { timezone: 'UTC' });

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Python

Prerequisites

Python 3.8+ with apscheduler installed (pip install apscheduler). For Python 3.12+ use apscheduler>=3.10.

Configuration

CronTrigger.from_crontab() accepts a standard 5-field cron string. Always pass timezone='UTC' to both the BlockingScheduler constructor and the trigger to ensure consistent scheduling regardless of the server's locale.

Gotchas

BlockingScheduler.start() blocks the calling thread indefinitely. For a web application, use BackgroundScheduler instead and call scheduler.start() at application startup. APScheduler logs missed fires if the process is stopped and restarted — configure misfire_grace_time (in seconds) to control how late a missed job is allowed to run.

python
from apscheduler.schedulers.blocking import BlockingScheduler
from apscheduler.triggers.cron import CronTrigger

scheduler = BlockingScheduler(timezone='UTC')

@scheduler.scheduled_job(
    CronTrigger.from_crontab('0 23 * * 1', timezone='UTC')
)
def run_task() -> None:
    print('task running')
    # your task logic here

scheduler.start()

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Golang

Prerequisites

Go 1.18+ and github.com/robfig/cron/v3 (go get github.com/robfig/cron/v3).

Configuration

Always create the scheduler with cron.New(cron.WithLocation(time.UTC)). Without WithLocation, the library defaults to the server's local timezone. Call c.Start() to begin the scheduler, then block with select {} to keep the process alive.

Gotchas

robfig/cron v3 uses standard 5-field cron expressions by default. To add second-level precision (6 fields), pass cron.WithSeconds() to cron.New() — but this changes field positions, so never mix syntaxes in the same scheduler. Always check the error returned by c.AddFunc() — a malformed expression is silently ignored without it.

golang
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"time"

	"github.com/robfig/cron/v3"
)

func main() {
	c := cron.New(cron.WithLocation(time.UTC))
	_, err := c.AddFunc("0 23 * * 1", func() {
		fmt.Println("task running at", time.Now().UTC())
		// your task logic here
	})
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	c.Start()
	defer c.Stop()
	select {}
}

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Java

Prerequisites

Spring Boot 2.7+ (or Spring Framework 5.3+) with spring-context on the classpath. Annotate your @SpringBootApplication class with @EnableScheduling — without it, @Scheduled methods are silently ignored.

Configuration

Spring @Scheduled uses a 6-field Quartz-style expression: [sec] [min] [hr] [dom] [mon] [dow]. The expression 0 0 23 ? * 1 is derived from 0 23 * * 1 — a leading 0 is prepended for the seconds field, and ? replaces the unconstrained day field.

Gotchas

Standard Unix cron has 5 fields; Spring requires 6. Pasting a 5-field expression directly into @Scheduled shifts every field by one and the job misfires silently. Use ? for either dom or dow — Quartz does not allow both to be *.

java
import org.springframework.scheduling.annotation.Scheduled;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component
public class ScheduledTask {

    @Scheduled(cron = "0 0 23 ? * 1")
    public void runTask() {
        System.out.println("task running at: " + java.time.Instant.now());
        // your task logic here
    }
}

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Kubernetes

Prerequisites

Kubernetes 1.21+ (CronJob API is GA). kubectl configured with cluster access. Container image must be pullable from within the cluster.

Configuration

Apply with kubectl apply -f cronjob.yaml. Check status with kubectl get cronjobs and inspect run history with kubectl get jobs. concurrencyPolicy: Allow is set because this schedule fires infrequently — parallel runs are acceptable.

Gotchas

Without startingDeadlineSeconds, a missed job (e.g., due to cluster downtime) triggers as soon as the controller recovers. Kubernetes 1.25+ supports timeZone: UTC in the spec to avoid timezone ambiguity. Keep successfulJobsHistoryLimit and failedJobsHistoryLimit low to avoid accumulating stale Job objects in the cluster.

kubernetes
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: scheduled-task
spec:
  schedule: "0 23 * * 1"
  concurrencyPolicy: Allow
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: OnFailure
          containers:
          - name: task
            image: alpine:3.19
            command: ["/bin/sh", "-c", "echo 'task running'"]

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AWS EventBridge Equivalent

Standard cron expressions often need conversion for AWS EventBridge schedules.

EventBridge Rule
cron(0 23 ? * 1 *)

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the 0 23 * * 1 cron expression do?

The `0 23 * * 1` cron expression is configured to execute a specific task precisely once every week, specifically on Monday evenings at 11 PM.

How does this schedule handle time zones and Daylight Saving Time changes?

Cron expressions operate based on the server's local time. When Daylight Saving Time occurs, the schedule will adjust automatically according to the server's time zone settings, potentially shifting the execution time by an hour.

How can I verify that my task is running on schedule?

You can verify task execution by checking your application logs for entries related to the scheduled job. Ensure the task properly logs its start and end times.

What are potential issues with this weekly schedule?

A potential issue is if the task takes longer than an hour to complete, it might overlap with the next scheduled run. It's crucial to monitor run durations to prevent overlapping.

What is a common variation of this schedule?

A common variation involves adjusting the day of the week, for instance, running the task on Sunday evening instead of Monday to better align with weekend batch processing.

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