Run a Cron Job Every 15 Minutes
*/15 fires on the quarter hours — :00, :15, :30, :45 — four times an hour. It's the classic schedule for report refreshes, cache warming, and cleanup tasks that should be regular but not aggressive.
*/15 * * * *In plain English: Every 15 minutes.
Field by field
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | */15 | every 15 minutes |
| Hour | * | every hour |
| Day of month | * | every day |
| Month | * | every month |
| Day of week | * | every weekday |
Variations
0,30 * * * *every 30 minutes — half the frequency*/15 9-17 * * 1-5every 15 minutes, weekdays, business hours7-52/15 * * * *every 15 minutes offset to :07, :22, :37, :52Tweak any of these in the crontab explainer to see the schedule in plain English and its next run times.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between */15 and 0,15,30,45?
Nothing at runtime — they expand to the same four minutes. Use whichever reads better in your crontab; the step form adapts if you later change the interval.
Does */15 run at the top of the hour too?
Yes — a step starts from the first value of its range, so */15 includes minute 0. If you don't want the top of the hour, use 15,30,45.
Related schedules
New to cron syntax? Read Cron Expressions Explained, Field by Field.