Cron Expression Parser
Turn a cron expression into a sentence, and see exactly when it runs next.
Five fields: minute hour day month weekday (@daily and @hourly work too)
*/5
minute
*
hour
*
day of month
*
month
*
day of week
Times are shown in your device’s timezone. If the server running the cron job is in a different zone, it will fire at a different local time.
About this tool
The cron expression parser turns a cron schedule into a sentence you can read at a glance, and tells you exactly when it fires next.
A description alone isn't enough, because a correctly-described schedule can still be the wrong schedule. So the tool also lists the next five runs as real dates and times — the only way to be sure the expression does what you meant.
The rule people get wrong most often is what happens when both day-of-month and day-of-week are set: cron runs when either matches, not both. 0 0 1 * MON fires on the 1st of every month and every Monday, not only on Mondays that land on the 1st. Looking at the next runs makes that obvious immediately.
It also looks up to five years ahead, so a rare schedule like 0 0 29 2 * (29 February) resolves properly instead of reporting no upcoming run the way a one-year scan would.
How to use
- 1Type or paste a cron expression, or click one of the examples
- 2Read the plain-language description of what the schedule means
- 3Check the next five runs to confirm it matches what you intended
- 4If the syntax is wrong you are told immediately which field is at fault
Frequently asked questions
- What are the five cron fields?
- 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). The tool labels each field under your expression so you can see which is which.
- What happens if I set both day-of-month and day-of-week?
- It runs when EITHER matches, not both. "0 0 1 * MON" fires on the 1st of every month AND on every Monday. This is the single most misunderstood rule in cron.
- Which timezone are the run times in?
- Your device’s, which is shown above the list. If the server running the job is set to another zone — UTC, typically — it will fire at a different local time.
- Are @daily and @hourly supported?
- Yes, along with @yearly, @monthly, @weekly and @midnight. They are expanded to the standard five fields automatically.
- How does it find the next run of a once-a-year schedule?
- It looks up to five years ahead, so it finds dates like 29 February that only exist in leap years — where a tool that only scans 365 days reports no upcoming run at all.