Cron Expression Explainer

Turn a cron line like */15 9-17 * * 1-5 into plain English and see exactly when it will run next.

🔒 Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded.
Presets:
Next runs

    How to use the Cron Expression Explainer

    1. Type a 5-field cron expression, or pick a preset
    2. Read the plain-English description and field breakdown
    3. Check the upcoming run times in your local time zone

    About this tool

    Standard cron has five fields: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12 or JAN–DEC) and day of week (0–7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday, or SUN–SAT). Use * for any value, , for lists, - for ranges and / for steps. Watch out for one cron quirk: if both day of month and day of week are set, the job runs when either matches.

    Plain-English descriptions come from the MIT-licensed cRonstrue library. Next run times are calculated in your browser’s time zone. Your server may run in UTC.

    Frequently asked questions

    What does */5 * * * * mean?

    Every 5 minutes, at minutes 0, 5, 10 and so on of every hour, every day.

    Does cron use UTC or local time?

    Cron uses the time zone of the machine or service running it. Many cloud schedulers use UTC by default, so check yours.

    Are 6-field (seconds) expressions supported?

    This explainer covers standard 5-field cron (Linux crontab, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes). Quartz-style expressions with seconds are not supported.

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