Cron Expression Parser

Translate cron expressions to plain English and preview the next scheduled execution times.

Cron Parser
minutehourdaymonthweekday
Every 15 minutes, between 9:00 AM and 5:59 PM, Monday through Friday

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    What is the Cron Expression Parser?

    Cron expressions define recurring schedules in Unix-like systems using five fields: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), and day-of-week (0-6). Special operators include * (any value), - (ranges like 9-17), , (lists like 1,3,5), and / (steps like */15 for every 15 units). This parser interprets the expression, converts it to human-readable English, and calculates the next scheduled execution times by simulating the cron daemon's matching algorithm against real calendar dates.

    How to use the Cron Expression Parser?

    1. Enter a 5-field cron expression (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week) into the input field.
    2. The parser translates it to plain English instantly (e.g. '*/15 9-17 * * 1-5' → 'Every 15 minutes, between 9:00 AM and 5:59 PM, Monday through Friday').
    3. View the next 5 scheduled execution times calculated from the current moment.
    4. Common examples: '0 * * * *' (every hour), '0 0 * * *' (midnight daily), '0 9 * * 1' (Mondays at 9am).
    5. Use this to validate cron schedules before deploying to crontab, GitHub Actions, or CI/CD pipelines.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is a cron expression?

    A cron expression is a 5-field string used by Unix-like task schedulers (cron, crontab) to define when commands run. Fields represent: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), day-of-week (0-6, Sunday=0). Special characters include * (any), - (range), , (list), and / (step).

    What does */5 mean in cron?

    The step syntax /N means 'every N units'. So */5 in the minute field means every 5 minutes (0, 5, 10, 15...). In the hour field, */2 means every 2 hours (0, 2, 4, 6...).

    How do I run a cron job at midnight daily?

    Use '0 0 * * *' — minute 0, hour 0 (midnight), any day, any month, any day-of-week. For a specific timezone, configure your cron daemon's timezone setting.

    Does this support 6-field cron (with seconds)?

    This parser supports standard 5-field cron expressions. Some systems (Spring, Quartz) use 6 fields with seconds — for those, drop the first (seconds) field to test here.