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Text & Dev Tools

Cron Expression Builder & Explainer

Paste a standard 5-field cron expression to see what it means in plain English and when it will run next.

What this does: it parses a standard 5-field cron expression (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week), validates every field, and describes the schedule in plain English. It also computes the next 5 run times using your device's local clock. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Standard 5-field cron only.

Standard 5-field cron only. Named schedules (@yearly, @daily, @reboot), a seconds field, and non-standard tokens (L, W, #, ?) are not supported.

Quick presets

Frequently asked questions

Which cron formats does this tool support?

It supports the standard 5-field cron format: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week. Each field accepts * (any), */n (steps), a-b (ranges), a,b,c (lists), and plain numbers. It does not support named schedules like @yearly or @daily, a seconds field, or non-standard tokens such as L, W, or #.

Are the next run times shown in my timezone?

Yes. The next 5 run times are calculated using your device's local time and timezone. The tool steps forward minute by minute from the current time, so results reflect the clock on the computer you are using.

How do the day-of-month and day-of-week fields work together?

When both the day-of-month and day-of-week fields are restricted (neither is *), standard cron treats them as an OR: the job runs when either field matches. If one of the two is *, the other simply applies as a normal AND condition with the rest of the expression.