Cron Expression Parser

Decode cron expressions into plain English and preview the next scheduled run times.

Cron Expression

Format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week

Human-readable Description

Next 5 Scheduled Runs

Common Presets

How It Works

Enter a cron expression (e.g., "0 9 * * MON-FRI") into the input field. The tool instantly explains it in plain English and shows the next 5 scheduled execution times relative to the current time.

Cron expressions define recurring schedules for automated tasks. They are used in Unix/Linux cron jobs, AWS EventBridge, Kubernetes CronJobs, GitHub Actions, and virtually every scheduling system. Our cron parser demystifies these cryptic-looking strings instantly.

**Cron Expression Format**

A standard 5-field cron expression: `minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week`

```
┌─────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌─── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌─ month (1-12 or JAN-DEC)
│ │ │ │ ┌ day of week (0-7 or SUN-SAT, 0 and 7 are both Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *
```

**Special Characters**

- `*` — every unit (any value)
- `,` — list separator: `1,3,5` means 1, 3, and 5
- `-` — range: `9-17` means 9 through 17
- `/` — step: `*/5` means every 5 units
- `L` — last (day): last day of month or week
- `?` — no specific value (used in some systems for day fields)

**Common Examples**

- `* * * * *` — every minute
- `0 * * * *` — every hour
- `0 9 * * *` — every day at 9:00 AM
- `0 9 * * MON-FRI` — weekdays at 9:00 AM
- `0 0 1 * *` — first day of every month at midnight
- `0 0 * * 0` — every Sunday at midnight
- `*/15 * * * *` — every 15 minutes

**Extended Cron (6 fields)**

Some systems add a seconds field: `second minute hour day month weekday`. AWS, Quartz Scheduler, and some CI systems use this format.

**Privacy**

All parsing happens in your browser.

Frequently Asked Questions

A cron expression is a string of 5 (or 6) fields that defines a recurring schedule. It is used to schedule automated tasks (cron jobs) at specific times or intervals.

This runs at minute 0, hour 9, any day of month, any month, Monday through Friday — meaning every weekday at 9:00 AM.

*/5 means "every 5 units starting from 0" so it matches 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55. This is equivalent to 0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 in the minute field.

In standard Unix cron, there is no direct "last day" syntax. Some extended cron implementations (Quartz, AWS) support "L" in the day-of-month field for this purpose.

Unix cron uses the system timezone of the server. AWS EventBridge and many cloud schedulers use UTC by default. Always specify timezones explicitly in production scheduling systems.