Cron Expression Parser
Parse and understand cron expressions. See human-readable descriptions and next scheduled run times.
Common Cron Schedules
Cron Syntax Reference
| Symbol | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| * | Any value (wildcard) | * in hour = every hour |
| , | Value list separator | 1,3,5 in day-of-week = Mon, Wed, Fri |
| - | Range of values | 1-5 in day-of-week = Monday to Friday |
| / | Step values | */15 in minute = every 15 minutes |
| 0-59 | Minutes | 30 = at the 30th minute |
| 0-23 | Hours (24h format) | 14 = 2:00 PM |
| 1-31 | Day of month | 15 = 15th of the month |
| 1-12 | Month (or JAN-DEC) | 6 = June |
| 0-6 | Day of week (or SUN-SAT) | 0 = Sunday, 1 = Monday |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of 5 fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) that defines a recurring schedule. It's used by Unix/Linux cron daemon, CI/CD pipelines, task schedulers, and cloud services like AWS CloudWatch.
What's the difference between */5 and 0,5,10,15...?
They produce the same result. */5 means 'every 5th value starting from 0', which expands to 0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55. The step syntax (/) is just shorthand.
Can I use day names like MON, TUE?
Yes! This parser supports both numbered (0-6) and named (SUN-SAT) day-of-week values, and both numbered (1-12) and named (JAN-DEC) month values. Names are case-insensitive.
How do day-of-month and day-of-week interact?
If both are specified (not *), the schedule runs when EITHER condition matches (OR logic). If only one is specified and the other is *, only the specified field is checked.
Where are cron expressions commonly used?
Unix/Linux crontab, GitHub Actions (schedule trigger), AWS EventBridge/CloudWatch, Kubernetes CronJobs, Vercel Cron, Google Cloud Scheduler, CI/CD pipelines, and database maintenance jobs.