Cron Expression Generator

About Cron Expression Generator

A cron expression generator builds the five-field schedule strings that crontab, CI pipelines, and schedulers use. Type an expression or pick a preset, and it translates the schedule into plain English and lists the next five times it will run in your time zone — so you can confirm a job fires when you expect before you ship it. Everything runs in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

What do the five fields in a cron expression mean?

In order: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12 or JAN–DEC), and day of week (0–6 or SUN–SAT). An asterisk means 'every'. So '0 9 * * 1-5' is 9:00 AM, Monday through Friday.

What does * * * * * mean?

Every asterisk means 'every value', so * * * * * runs the job every minute of every hour, every day. It's the most frequent schedule standard cron can express.

What does */5 mean in cron?

A slash is a step value: */5 in the minute field means 'every 5th minute' — 0, 5, 10, and so on. You can combine it with ranges too, like 0-30/10 for minutes 0, 10, 20, and 30.

Does cron use UTC or local time?

Cron runs in the server's time zone, which is often UTC but not always. This tool lists the next runs in your own time zone, so check what your server is set to before relying on the times you see here.

How do I run a job every day at midnight?

Use '0 0 * * *' — minute 0 of hour 0, every day. It's one of the presets, and the next-run list confirms it before you deploy.

Why does setting both day of month and day of week behave oddly?

When both fields are restricted, standard cron treats them as OR, not AND — the job runs if either matches. For example '0 0 13 * 5' runs on the 13th AND every Friday, not only Friday the 13th. The next-run preview makes this easy to spot.