Five fields: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week.
Meaning
Next runs (local time)
Developer Tools
Cron Expression Explainer
Paste a 5-field cron expression to see what it means and when it will run next. Free, fast, and built for a clean browser workflow.
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About this tool
Cron expressions schedule repeating jobs. This explainer reads the standard five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week — including stars, lists, ranges, and steps.
It describes the schedule in words and lists the next five run times using your computer's local clock.
Parsing happens in the browser. The page does not connect to a server or a crontab.
Tips for better results
- Field order is minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week. Example: 0 9 * * 1-5 means 09:00 on Monday through Friday.
- When both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted, this tool follows the common cron OR rule: the job runs when either field matches.
- Month names (JAN–DEC) and day names (SUN–SAT) are accepted. Sunday may be 0 or 7.
- Seconds and year fields (6- or 7-part Quartz expressions) are not parsed. Use the five-field form.
How to use
- 1 Paste a 5-field cron expression (minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week).
- 2 Read the plain-language summary.
- 3 Check the next run times in your local time zone.
FAQ
Which cron syntax is supported?
Five fields with *, numbers, lists (1,15), ranges (1-5), and steps (*/15 or 1-10/2). Names like JAN and MON work.
Does it support seconds?
No. Put the five standard fields only. A leading seconds field will be rejected.
Which time zone are the next runs in?
Your browser's local time zone.
What if day of month and day of week are both set?
The run matches if either field matches, which is the usual Vixie cron behavior.
Is the expression sent anywhere?
No. It is parsed locally.
Can it edit my server crontab?
No. It only explains the expression you paste.