What does */2 mean in a cron expression?

The */2 syntax means "every 2nd value." In the minute field, */2 * * * * runs at minutes 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, ..., 58 — every 2 minutes.

How many times does */2 * * * * run per day?

It runs 720 times per day (30 times per hour × 24 hours).

Cron Every 2 Minutes

*/2 * * * *

Every 2 minutes

Next 10 Executions

Times shown in UTC

Mon, May 18, 202608:10
Mon, May 18, 202608:12
Mon, May 18, 202608:14
Mon, May 18, 202608:16
Mon, May 18, 202608:18
Mon, May 18, 202608:20
Mon, May 18, 202608:22
Mon, May 18, 202608:24
Mon, May 18, 202608:26
Mon, May 18, 202608:28

Field Breakdown

*/2

Minute

Every 2 minutes

*

Hour

Every hour

*

Day of Month

Every day

*

Month

Every month

*

Day of Week

Every day of week

About This Schedule

The cron expression */2 * * * * triggers a job every 2 minutes throughout the day. The */2 in the minute field means "every 2nd minute," starting from minute 0 — so the job runs at :00, :02, :04, :06, and so on.

This schedule is useful for near-real-time monitoring, cache invalidation, or lightweight data synchronization tasks where every minute would be excessive. It produces 720 executions per day.

The step syntax */N works in any cron field. For example, */2 in the hour field would mean every 2 hours. You can also specify a range with a step, like 0-30/2 to run every 2 minutes only during the first half of each hour.