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Cron Expression Explainer

Runs in browser

Paste any cron expression and get a plain English explanation, per-field breakdown, and a preview of the next scheduled run times.

Last updated 08 Apr 2026

Explains any 5-field or 6-field cron expression in plain English — showing exactly when the schedule fires, what each field means, and the next scheduled run times. Supports standard POSIX cron as well as extended formats with seconds (node-cron, Quartz, AWS EventBridge).

MINHOUDOMMONDOW

Schedule

Runs at 9 AM every weekday (Mon–Fri)

Field Breakdown
FieldValueMeaning
Minute0minute 0
Hour99 AM
Day of month*every day of month
Month*every month
Day of week1-5from Monday to Friday
Next run times
13 Apr 2026, 09:00this Monday at 9:00 am
14 Apr 2026, 09:00this Tuesday at 9:00 am
15 Apr 2026, 09:00this Wednesday at 9:00 am
16 Apr 2026, 09:00this Thursday at 9:00 am
17 Apr 2026, 09:00Fri 17 Apr at 9:00 am
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How to use

  1. 1

    Paste your cron expression

    Type or paste any 5-field or 6-field cron expression into the input field. Use the examples dropdown to try common patterns.

  2. 2

    Read the plain English description

    The schedule description updates instantly as you type — showing a natural language summary of exactly when the cron job runs.

  3. 3

    Check the field breakdown

    The field breakdown table shows what each part of the expression means: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week.

  4. 4

    Preview the next run times

    Review the upcoming scheduled run times calculated from your current date and timezone, with relative labels like 'in 3 hours' or 'tomorrow at 9:00 AM'.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a compact string used to define a schedule for running automated tasks. The standard 5-field format is: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-7, where 0 and 7 both mean Sunday). For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 means 'at 9:00 AM every weekday'.
What does * mean in a cron expression?
An asterisk (*) means 'every valid value' for that field. For example, * in the minute field means 'every minute', and * in the month field means 'every month'. It is the wildcard — use it when you don't want to restrict that field.
How do I run a job every 5 minutes?
Use */5 in the minute field: */5 * * * *. The / syntax means 'step' — */5 means every 5 units starting from the minimum. This expression fires at minute 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 of every hour.
What is the difference between 5-field and 6-field cron?
Standard 5-field cron (POSIX/Linux) has fields for minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week. Extended 6-field cron adds a seconds field at the start (0-59), used by tools like node-cron, Quartz, Spring, and AWS EventBridge. This tool auto-detects which format you're using based on field count.
How do I run a job every weekday?
Use 1-5 in the day-of-week field. For example, to run at 9 AM every weekday: 0 9 * * 1-5. Day 1 is Monday and day 5 is Friday. You can also use day names in some schedulers: 0 9 * * MON-FRI.
What is the difference between day-of-month and day-of-week?
Day-of-month targets specific calendar dates (e.g. the 1st or 15th of each month). Day-of-week targets specific weekdays (e.g. every Monday). Setting both fields to non-wildcard values generally means the job runs when EITHER condition is true, though the exact behaviour depends on your scheduler.
Are the next run times accurate?
Yes. Run times are calculated in your browser using your local timezone, iterating minute by minute from the current time until the requested number of matches is found. What you see is what will actually fire on your local machine.
Is any data sent to a server?
No. All parsing, description generation, and run time calculation happens entirely in your browser. Your cron expressions are never sent anywhere.
How do I schedule a job on the last day of the month?
Standard POSIX cron doesn't support the last-day-of-month pattern directly. Some schedulers (Quartz, cron libraries) support L in the day-of-month field. For portability, you can approximate it by scheduling for multiple possible last days (28,29,30,31) and checking the date in your script.

Cron Expression Explainer translates any cron schedule into plain English

so you can instantly understand when a job will run — without memorising the

syntax. Paste an expression like `0 9 * * 1-5` and get a clear description:

"Runs at 9:00 AM every weekday (Monday through Friday)."

Unlike a simple field-by-field label, the explainer intelligently combines

fields into natural sentences: "Runs every 15 minutes during business hours

(9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday)" or "Runs at midnight on the 1st of

every month." Common patterns like midnight, noon, weekdays, and weekends are

recognised and named naturally.

The field breakdown table shows exactly what each of the five fields does —

minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week — with the raw value and

a plain-English meaning for each. Use the next run preview to confirm your

schedule fires exactly when you expect, with relative labels like "in 3 hours"

or "tomorrow at 9:00 AM" for the upcoming runs.

Supports standard 5-field POSIX cron (Linux, macOS, GitHub Actions) and

extended 6-field cron with seconds (node-cron, Quartz, Spring, AWS EventBridge).

All processing runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to any server.

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Learn more

Cron Expression Cheat Sheet: Every Schedule You'll Ever Need

Copy-paste cron expressions for every schedule from every-minute to yearly. 20+ ready-to-use examples with plain-English translations and field reference.