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 schedule. Used in Unix cron jobs, CI/CD, Vercel, and many scheduling systems.

An asterisk means 'every' — so * in the hour field means every hour.

What's the difference between 5 and 6 field cron?

5-field cron is standard (minute to day-of-week). 6-field adds seconds as the first field. This tool supports both.

Is my data sent to a server?

No. Parsing runs entirely in your browser.

Cron Expression Parser

Parse cron expressions into plain English. See the next scheduled run times. Free cron tool.

Cron expression

Common presets

Plain English

At 09:00 AM, Monday through Friday

Field breakdown

Minute0The minute of the hour (0-59)

Hour9The hour of the day (0-23)

Day of Month*The day of the month (1-31)

Month*The month of the year (1-12)

Day of Week1-5The day of the week (0 = Sunday) (0-6)

Syntax reference

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6, Sun=0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

* — any value

, — list separator (e.g. 1,3,5)

- — range (e.g. 1-5)

/ — step (e.g. */15)

Frequently asked questions