Visually build cron schedules or parse existing expressions. See the next scheduled run times, get human-readable descriptions, and copy expressions for crontab, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and more. 100% client-side — your data never leaves your browser.
* * * * *
Every minute
Cron Format
Second
0–59
Minute
0–59
Hour
0–23
Day of Month
1–31
Month
1–12
Day of Week
0–7 (0,7=Sun)
Common Presets
Parse a Cron Expression
Enter a cron expression above...
Field Breakdown
Field
Value
Meaning
Allowed
Next 10 Scheduled Run Times
Generate or parse a cron expression to see scheduled runs
Use in Different Systems
Cron Syntax Quick Reference
Symbol
Meaning
Example
Description
*
Any value
* * * * *
Every minute
,
List
1,15 * * * *
At minute 1 and 15
-
Range
* 9-17 * * *
Every minute from 9am to 5pm
/
Step
*/10 * * * *
Every 10 minutes
*/n
Every n
0 */2 * * *
Every 2 hours
1-5
Range
* * * * 1-5
Weekdays (Mon-Fri)
About Cron Expressions
A cron expression is a compact string that defines a time-based schedule. Originally from Unix crontab, it is now the universal standard for scheduling recurring tasks across operating systems, cloud platforms, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, and application frameworks.
The standard 5-field format is: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. Each field accepts specific values, wildcards (*), ranges (1-5), steps (*/5), and comma-separated lists (1,3,5).
Some systems like Quartz Scheduler and Spring Framework add a seconds field at the beginning, creating a 6-field expression. This builder supports both formats and shows the equivalent syntax for popular platforms.
A cron expression is a string of five (or six) fields separated by spaces that defines a time schedule. The standard five fields are: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday). Each field can use wildcards (*), ranges (1-5), steps (*/5), and lists (1,3,5). Cron is used in Unix/Linux systems, Kubernetes CronJobs, GitHub Actions, CI/CD pipelines, and task schedulers to automate recurring jobs.
What is the difference between 5-field and 6-field cron expressions?▼
Standard (5-field) cron uses: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week. Extended (6-field) cron adds a seconds field at the beginning: second, minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week. The 6-field format is used by some systems like Spring Scheduler, Quartz, and certain cloud services. Standard crontab on Linux/macOS uses only 5 fields.
What do the special characters in cron expressions mean?▼
The asterisk (*) means every possible value. A comma (,) separates a list of values (e.g. 1,3,5). A hyphen (-) defines a range (e.g. 1-5 means 1 through 5). A slash (/) defines step values (e.g. */5 in the minute field means every 5 minutes). Some implementations also support L (last), W (nearest weekday), and # (nth weekday of month).
How do I schedule a cron job to run every 5 minutes?▼
To run a cron job every 5 minutes, use the expression: */5 * * * *. The */5 in the minute field means "every 5th minute" (0, 5, 10, 15, ... 55). Similarly, */10 runs every 10 minutes, */15 every 15 minutes, and */30 every 30 minutes.
Where are cron expressions used besides Linux crontab?▼
Cron expressions are used in many systems: Kubernetes CronJobs, GitHub Actions workflow schedules, AWS CloudWatch/EventBridge, Jenkins build triggers, Spring Framework @Scheduled, Quartz Scheduler (Java), Docker cron containers, Airflow DAG scheduling, and most CI/CD platforms. The syntax is nearly universal with minor variations between implementations.