Time & Scheduling
Cron Expression Explainer
Explain a cron expression in plain English and list its next run times.
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About the Cron Expression Explainer
Paste a five-field cron expression to see what it means in plain English and when it will run next. Lists, ranges, steps, month and weekday names and macros such as @daily and @hourly are supported, and the next ten runs are shown in your time zone or UTC.
How to use it
- Type a cron expression or pick an example.
- Read the plain-English description.
- Check the next run times.
Frequently asked questions
- What do the five fields mean?
- Minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12) and day of week (0-6, Sunday is 0 or 7).
- What happens when both day fields are set?
- As in standard cron, the job runs when either the day of month or the day of week matches.
- Does it support seconds?
- No. Standard cron has five fields; Quartz and some schedulers add a seconds field, which this tool explains how to remove.