# Run a Cron Job Every Friday

> The cron expression for every Friday at 5 p.m. is 0 17 * * 5. Field meanings, next run times, and variations for other Friday times and day names.

```
0 17 * * 5
```

In plain English: At 17:00, on Friday.

Day-of-week 5 is Friday (0 and 7 are Sunday) and hour 17 is 5 p.m., so 0 17 * * 5 fires once a week as the working week ends — a common slot for weekly summaries and end-of-week exports.

## Field by field

| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | `0` | 0 |
| Hour | `17` | 17 |
| Day of month | `*` | every day |
| Month | `*` | every month |
| Day of week | `5` | Friday |

## Variations

- `0 17 * * FRI` — the same schedule with the day name
- `0 9 * * 5` — Friday mornings at 09:00
- `0 17 * * 1-5` — every weekday at 17:00

## FAQ

### Is Friday 5 or 6 in cron?

5. Cron counts from Sunday = 0: Monday 1, Tuesday 2, Wednesday 3, Thursday 4, Friday 5, Saturday 6 — and 7 is Sunday again.

### How do I run on the last Friday of the month?

Standard cron can't express it. Run every Friday and have the job continue only when the date a week later falls in the next month — in a script: [ "$(date -d '+7 days' +%m)" != "$(date +%m)" ] || exit 0 (GNU date; in the crontab line itself, escape each % as \%).

## Related schedules

- [0 9 * * 1 — Run a Cron Job Every Monday](https://www.devkult.com/cron/every-monday.md)
- [0 10 * * 6,0 — Run a Cron Job Every Weekend](https://www.devkult.com/cron/every-weekend.md)
- [0 9 * * 1-5 — Run a Cron Job Every Weekday](https://www.devkult.com/cron/every-weekday.md)

Open the interactive page: https://www.devkult.com/cron/every-friday