Cron Expression Generator
Build, decode, and test cron expressions with human-readable descriptions.
Next 5 Run Times
This tool is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional financial, medical, legal, or engineering advice. See Terms of Service.
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Request a ToolHow to Use the Cron Expression Generator
Cron expressions define schedules for automated tasks on Unix/Linux systems, CI/CD pipelines, cloud functions, and task schedulers. This tool helps you build expressions visually or decode existing ones.
- Choose a preset for common schedules like every minute, every hour, daily, weekly, or monthly. The cron expression updates automatically.
- Select "Custom" to reveal dropdown selectors for each of the five cron fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Pick values from the dropdowns and the expression builds itself.
- Type or paste a cron expression directly into the text field to decode it. The tool shows a human-readable description and calculates the next 5 scheduled run times.
- Review the output. The primary result shows the cron expression in standard 5-field format. Below it, the human-readable description explains the schedule in plain English, and the next 5 runs show exactly when the job will execute.
- Copy or share the expression using the buttons. The share link includes the expression in the URL so others can view it directly.
The standard cron format uses five fields: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where 0 is Sunday). An asterisk (*) means "every." A slash (/) means "every Nth," for example */5 means every 5 units. A dash (-) defines a range, and a comma (,) separates multiple values.
About Cron Expressions
Cron is one of the oldest and most widely used scheduling systems in computing. Originally part of Unix systems in the 1970s, cron syntax is now used by Linux crontab, AWS EventBridge, Google Cloud Scheduler, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes CronJobs, and dozens of other platforms. The five-field format (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) covers the vast majority of scheduling needs.
Some systems extend the format with a sixth field for seconds or a year field, but the standard five-field version is the most portable and widely supported. This generator uses the standard five-field format. All calculations run in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does each field in a cron expression mean?
A standard cron expression has five fields separated by spaces: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where 0 is Sunday). An asterisk (*) means "every value." For example, "0 9 * * 1" means "at 9:00 AM every Monday."
What does */5 mean in a cron expression?
The slash (/) is a step operator. */5 in the minute field means "every 5 minutes" (0, 5, 10, 15, ..., 55). You can also use it with ranges: 1-30/5 means every 5 minutes within the first 30 minutes of each hour (1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26).
How do I schedule a cron job to run at a specific time every day?
Set the minute and hour fields to your desired time, and leave the other three fields as *. For example, "30 14 * * *" runs at 2:30 PM every day. "0 0 * * *" runs at midnight every day. Times are in the server's timezone unless your scheduler uses UTC.
Is Sunday 0 or 7 in cron?
In most cron implementations, Sunday is 0. Some systems also accept 7 as Sunday for compatibility. Monday is 1 through Saturday is 6. This generator uses the 0-6 convention where 0 is Sunday, which is the most widely supported format.