The Cron Expression Generator explains any cron schedule in plain English and shows you when it will next run. Type a five-field cron expression (or pick a preset) and it tells you what the schedule means and lists the next five run times in your local timezone.
It’s the quickest way to sanity-check a crontab entry before you deploy it, and it runs entirely in your browser.
How to use the cron generator
- Enter a cron expression with five fields: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week.
- Or click a preset like “Weekdays at 9:30” to start from a common schedule.
- Read the plain-English description of when it runs.
- Check the next five run times to confirm it does what you expect.
The five cron fields
- Minute (0–59), Hour (0–23), Day of month (1–31), Month (1–12), Day of week (0–6, Sunday = 0).
- Use * for “every”, a,b for a list, a-b for a range, and */n for steps.
- For example, 30 9 * * 1-5 means 9:30 on weekdays.
- If both day-of-month and day-of-week are set, cron runs when either matches.
Why preview the next runs?
Cron syntax is easy to get subtly wrong — a schedule that looks daily might only fire on certain weekdays, or run far more often than intended. Seeing the next five actual run times catches these mistakes before they cause missed jobs or runaway tasks.
This tool uses standard five-field cron (the format used by most Unix crontabs and schedulers).
Frequently Asked Questions
What cron format does this support?
Standard five-field cron: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week, with *, lists, ranges, and step values.
What does 30 9 * * 1-5 mean?
It runs at 9:30 every weekday (Monday to Friday). The tool spells this out for any expression you enter.
What timezone are the run times in?
The next-run times are shown in your local timezone, based on your device’s clock.
Does */15 mean every 15 minutes?
Yes — in the minute field, */15 means every 15 minutes. The step syntax */n works in any field.