User Guide > User Guide > DataCloud Agent > Scheduling Agent Jobs > Building a Cron Expression
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Building a Cron Expression
A cron expression is composed of 6 or 7 values separated by spaces. Each of these values represents part of the schedule, and can be either a number or a certain special character.
Expression Fields
 
Field
Required
Values
Special Characters
Second
Yes
0-59
, - * /
Minute
Yes
0-59
, - * /
Hour
Yes
0-23
, - * /
Day of Month
Yes
1-31
, - * / L W ?
Month
Yes
1-12 or JAN-DEC
, - * /
Day of Week
Yes
1-7 or SUN-SAT
, - * / # ?
Year
No
1970-2099
, - * /
Special Characters
Special characters allow you to specify wildcards, ranges, and other conditions for each field.
 
Character
Description
Examples
*
All values for the field are selected.
* in the Hour field means every hour.
?
No specific value required. Only usable in the Day of Month and Day of Week fields.
To set a schedule that runs on Sundays regardless of the day of the month, use a ? in the Day of Month field and a 1 in the Day of Week field.
-
Specify a range (inclusive) between 2 values.
1-3 in the Hour field (along with a 0 in the Minute and Second fields) is triggered at 1:00 A.M., 2:00 A.M., and 3:00 A.M.
,
Separate multiple values.
1,3 in the Hour field means 1:00 A.M. and 3:00 A.M.
/
Incremental trigger. Enter in the format X/Y, where X is the starting value and Y is the increment.
0/15 in the Minute field means the schedule begins at minute 00 and then runs every 15 minutes thereafter.
L
Last day of the month or week.
Can be combined with other values in each field as illustrated below.
• Day of Month: L-X, where X is a number of days to offset from the last calendar day of the month.
• Day of Week: XL, where X is a day value (1-7).
L in the Day of Month field means the last calendar day of the month.
L-2 in the Day of Month field means the second-to-last calendar day of the month.
L in the Day of Week field simply means 7 (Saturday).
7L in the Day of Week field means the last Saturday of the month.
W
Weekday (Monday-Friday) nearest the given day. Enter in the format XW, where X is the day of the month.
12W in the Day of Month field is triggered on the 12th day of the month if that day falls on a weekday. If the 12th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the schedule runs on the following Monday.
LW in the Day of Month field is triggered on the last weekday of the month.
#
Exact monthly instance of the specified day of the week. Enter in the format X#Y, where X is the day of the week and Y is the instance.
Note:  A value using X#5 will not be triggered for the month if there are not 5 of day X within the month.
2#3 in the Day of Week field means the 3rd Monday each month.
Last modified date: 12/17/2021