Crontab Quarterly — First Day of Each Quarter (0 0 1 1,4,7,10 *)
Run a cron job on the first day of each quarter (January, April, July, October) at midnight. The standard quarterly schedule.
Detailed Explanation
Running a Cron Job Quarterly
The expression 0 0 1 1,4,7,10 * runs at midnight on January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st — the first day of each fiscal quarter.
Field Breakdown
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | At minute 0 |
| Hour | 0 | At midnight |
| Day of Month | 1 | On the 1st |
| Month | 1,4,7,10 | Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct |
| Day of Week | * | Any day of the week |
Month Values
Cron months are numbered 1-12:
| Value | Month |
|---|---|
| 1 | January |
| 4 | April |
| 7 | July |
| 10 | October |
The comma-separated list 1,4,7,10 selects these four months.
Alternative Quarterly Schedules
Depending on your fiscal year, you might need different quarter start months:
# Standard quarters (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct)
0 0 1 1,4,7,10 *
# Fiscal year starting in April (Apr, Jul, Oct, Jan)
0 0 1 4,7,10,1 *
# Fiscal year starting in October (Oct, Jan, Apr, Jul)
0 0 1 10,1,4,7 *
Using Step Values
You can also express "every 3 months" with a step: 0 0 1 */3 *. However, this starts from January and runs in months 1, 4, 7, 10 — which matches the standard quarters.
Use Case
Quarterly scheduling is critical for financial operations: quarterly tax calculations, compliance reports, performance reviews, security audit triggers, quarterly data archival, budget reconciliation, and generating quarterly business intelligence reports.