Cron Expression for Every 5 Minutes: */5 * * * *

Field by field

*/5 * * * * reads: Every 5 minutes. That is 288 runs a day.

*/5 means minutes 0, 5, 10 and so on to 55 - aligned to the clock, not to when the job was installed.
To spread load, offset it: 2-59/5 runs at 2, 7, 12… so every job on the box does not start on the same second.
This is the shortest schedule GitHub Actions accepts, and under load its runs can start several minutes late.

2-59/5 * * * *Every 5 minutes, offset by 2 minutesExplain it
*/5 9-17 * * 1-5Every 5 minutes during office hours on weekdaysExplain it
0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * *The same schedule, written out in fullExplain it

*/5 * * * * /path/to/job.sh

Runs in the machine's local timezone. crontab -e to edit.

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "*/5 * * * *"

Always UTC. Nothing more often than every 5 minutes, and runs can start late when GitHub is busy.

spec:
  schedule: "*/5 * * * *"
  timeZone: "Asia/Kolkata"

timeZone needs Kubernetes 1.27 or later; without it the controller's zone applies, usually UTC.

@Scheduled(cron = "0 */5 * * * *")

Six fields: seconds come first. Days are written as names, which Spring and cron read alike.

0 0/5 * * * ?

One of day-of-month and day-of-week must be ?. Quartz counts days 1-7 from Sunday, so names are safer than numbers.

cron(0/5 * * * ? *)

Six fields, the last one the year. UTC unless the schedule sets a timezone. Days count from Sunday, as in Quartz.

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00/5:00
Persistent=true

Persistent=true runs a job that was missed while the machine was off, once it is back.