Cron Expression Parser
Parse cron expressions into next run times and a plain-English schedule.
How to use the Cron Expression Parser
A cron expression is five space-separated fields — minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week — that describe a repeating schedule. This tool turns that string into a plain-English description and lists the next few times it will fire.
- 01Type a five-field expression, or click a preset like “weekdays 09:00” to start.
- 02Read the schedule line for a human-readable summary of when it runs.
- 03Check the next runs list — upcoming fire times in your local timezone, with the UTC time beside them.
tips
- —When both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted (neither is
*), cron runs when either matches; otherwise both must match. - —Each field accepts
*, single values, ranges (1-5), lists (1,3,5) and steps (*/15). - —Servers usually run cron in UTC, so cross-check the UTC column when copying a schedule into a deploy config.
frequently asked
What is a cron expression?+
A cron expression is a scheduling string with five space-separated fields: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week. For example "0 9 * * 1-5" runs at 09:00 on weekdays. It powers the cron daemon on Unix systems and most job schedulers.
What syntax is supported?+
Each field accepts: * (any), a single value (5), a range (1-5), a list (1,3,5), and step values (*/15 or 1-10/2). Month and weekday names (JAN-DEC, SUN-SAT) are also accepted. This tool uses the standard 5-field format.
Are special strings like @daily supported?+
Not in this version — it focuses on the standard 5-field numeric format, which is what most cloud schedulers (AWS EventBridge, Kubernetes CronJobs, GitHub Actions) expect.
In which timezone are the next runs shown?+
In your browser’s local timezone. Cron jobs that run on servers usually use UTC, so check the UTC column alongside the local time when copying a schedule.