⏰
Cron Expression Parser
✨ NewTranslate cron expressions into plain English
0
Minute
0-59
9
Hour
0-23
*
Day
1-31
*
Month
1-12
1-5
Weekday
0-7
Common expressions
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of five (or sometimes six) fields that defines when a scheduled task should run. Cron is the standard Unix job scheduler, and cron expressions are its scheduling language. They're used in Linux/macOS systems, cloud platforms (AWS Lambda, GCP Cloud Scheduler), CI/CD pipelines, and many web frameworks.
How to use the Cron Parser
- Type or paste your cron expression in the input field. The five fields are parsed and displayed individually below.
- See the plain English translation — the tool converts the expression to a human-readable description like "Every weekday at 9:00 AM".
- Check the next 5 run times to verify the schedule is correct before deploying.
- Browse presets for common schedules you can use directly or adapt.
Cron field reference
┌───────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌─────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌─── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌─ day of week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *
Special characters:
*— any value,— value list separator (1,3,5= 1st, 3rd, and 5th)-— range of values (1-5= 1 through 5)/— step values (*/15= every 15 units)
Common cron expressions
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
* * * * * | Every minute |
0 * * * * | Every hour at minute 0 |
0 9 * * * | Every day at 9:00 AM |
0 9 * * 1-5 | Weekdays at 9:00 AM |
*/15 * * * * | Every 15 minutes |
0 0 1 * * | First day of every month at midnight |
0 0 * * 0 | Every Sunday at midnight |
Cron in different environments
Linux/Mac: Edit with crontab -e. Output must be redirected — cron jobs have no terminal.
GitHub Actions: Uses 5-field cron syntax in the schedule trigger: on: schedule: - cron: '0 9 * * *'
AWS CloudWatch Events / EventBridge: Supports both cron and rate expressions. Their cron syntax has a 6th field for year.
Kubernetes CronJobs: Standard 5-field cron syntax in the schedule field of a CronJob spec.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron job?+
A cron job is a scheduled task that runs automatically at specified intervals on Unix-like operating systems. The name comes from Chronos (the Greek god of time). Cron jobs are managed by a daemon called cron (or crond) that reads a configuration file called a crontab and executes commands at the scheduled times.
What do the five fields in a cron expression mean?+
The five fields represent, from left to right — minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-7, where both 0 and 7 represent Sunday). For example, "30 9 * * 1-5" means "at 9:30 AM, Monday through Friday".
What does the * mean in cron?+
An asterisk (*) means "every" — it matches all valid values for that field. "* * * * *" means "every minute of every hour of every day". You can think of * as a wildcard that says "this field doesn't restrict when the job runs".
What is the difference between */ and a regular number in cron?+
A regular number specifies an exact value — "5 * * * *" runs at minute 5 of every hour. The */ syntax (called a step) means "every N units" — "*/5 * * * *" runs every 5 minutes (0, 5, 10, 15... 55). "*/15 * * * *" runs every 15 minutes.
Can I schedule a job to run every 30 seconds with cron?+
Standard cron has a minimum resolution of 1 minute. To run a job more frequently than once per minute, you need a different tool — either a loop within your script with sleep, or a more advanced scheduler like systemd timers or a job queue system. For most use cases, 1-minute granularity is sufficient.
What is @reboot in cron?+
Many cron implementations support shorthand expressions like @reboot (run once at startup), @daily or @midnight (run once a day at midnight), @weekly (once a week on Sunday), @monthly (once a month on the first), and @yearly or @annually (once a year on January 1). These are easier to read but not supported in all environments.
How do I edit my crontab on Linux/Mac?+
Run "crontab -e" in your terminal to open your personal crontab file in your default editor. Use "crontab -l" to list current jobs. Use "crontab -r" to remove all jobs (careful — this deletes everything). System-wide cron jobs for root can be edited in /etc/crontab or placed in /etc/cron.d/.
croncron expressioncron jobschedulerlinux