Cron Expression Parser
Explain a cron schedule in plain English and see its next runs.
Runs at 09:00, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
10/1/2026, 9:00:00 AM10/2/2026, 9:00:00 AM10/5/2026, 9:00:00 AM10/6/2026, 9:00:00 AM10/7/2026, 9:00:00 AMRuns entirely in your browser — your data never leaves this page.
About the Cron Expression Parser
This cron expression parser translates a crontab schedule into plain English and shows you exactly when it will next run. Cron expressions have five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week — and the syntax with its asterisks, ranges, and steps is easy to get wrong. This tool removes the guesswork.
Type an expression or pick a preset, and instantly see a human-readable description plus the next five run times in your local timezone. It is perfect for setting up scheduled jobs, cron tasks, and CI pipelines with confidence.
How to use it
- 1Enter a 5-field cron expression, or click a preset to start from a common schedule.
- 2Read the plain-English description of when the job runs.
- 3Check the next five run times, calculated in your local timezone.
- 4Copy the expression once it matches what you intended.
Common use cases
- Setting up scheduled cron jobs on a server
- Configuring CI/CD pipeline schedules
- Verifying a cron expression before deploying it
- Learning cron syntax by experimenting
Frequently asked questions
What do the five cron fields mean?
In order: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–6, where 0 is Sunday). An asterisk means "every" value for that field.
What does */5 mean in a cron expression?
The /N syntax is a step value. */5 in the minute field means "every 5 minutes". You can combine it with ranges too — for example 0-30/10 means every 10 minutes within the first half hour.
Does it support seconds or special strings like @daily?
This parser handles the standard 5-field format used by Unix cron and most schedulers. Six-field (with seconds) and shorthand macros like @daily are not parsed here — expand macros to their 5-field equivalent.