Developer

Cron Expression Generator

Build and explain cron expressions visually

Presets

0–59 · * · */5 · 0,30

0–23 · * · */6 · 9-17

1–31 · * · 1,15

1–12 · * · 1-6

0–7 (0=Sun) · * · 1-5

* * * * *

Schedule

Runs every minute

Minute

every minute

Hour

every hour

Day of month

every day

Month

every month

Day of week

every weekday

Next 5 runs (local time)

  1. 1Sat, Mar 7, 2026, 06:39
  2. 2Sat, Mar 7, 2026, 06:40
  3. 3Sat, Mar 7, 2026, 06:41
  4. 4Sat, Mar 7, 2026, 06:42
  5. 5Sat, Mar 7, 2026, 06:43

What Is a Cron Expression?

A cron expression is a compact scheduling language used to specify when a task should run on a Unix/Linux system — or in any scheduling system that adopts the cron syntax (GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, Google Cloud Scheduler, Kubernetes CronJobs, and many others).

The classic 5-field format is: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week

Field Reference

  • Minute: 0–59
  • Hour: 0–23 (midnight = 0)
  • Day of month: 1–31
  • Month: 1–12
  • Day of week: 0–7 (0 and 7 both = Sunday, 1 = Monday, …, 6 = Saturday)

Special Characters

  • * — every value (wildcard)
  • / — step interval (e.g. */5 = every 5)
  • - — range (e.g. 1-5 = 1 through 5)
  • , — list (e.g. 1,3,5 = values 1, 3, and 5)

Common Examples

  • * * * * * — every minute
  • 0 * * * * — every hour (at minute 0)
  • 0 0 * * * — every day at midnight
  • */15 * * * * — every 15 minutes
  • 0 9 * * 1-5 — weekdays at 9:00 am
  • 0 0 1 * * — first day of every month at midnight
  • 0 0 * * 0 — every Sunday at midnight
  • 30 18 * * 1,3,5 — Mon, Wed, Fri at 6:30 pm

Cron in the Cloud

Modern cloud and DevOps tools use cron syntax for scheduled tasks. AWS EventBridge Scheduler, Google Cloud Scheduler, GitHub Actions (on.schedule), Kubernetes CronJobs, Heroku Scheduler, and many CI/CD systems all accept standard cron expressions. The only common variation is that some cloud tools use a 6-field format (adding a year field or a seconds field at the start).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of five space-separated fields that define when a scheduled task (cron job) should run. The fields are, in order: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–7, where both 0 and 7 represent Sunday). Cron is the time-based job scheduler in Unix/Linux systems.
What does the asterisk (*) mean in cron?
An asterisk means "every possible value" for that field. So "* * * * *" means run every minute of every hour of every day. You can combine the asterisk with a slash for step values: "*/5" in the minute field means "every 5 minutes".
How do I run a job every 15 minutes?
Use "*/15" in the minute field: "*/15 * * * *". This matches minutes 0, 15, 30, and 45 of every hour. You can also write it as "0,15,30,45 * * * *" — both expressions are equivalent.
How do ranges and lists work in cron?
A range is written as "start-end" (e.g., "1-5" in the weekday field means Monday through Friday). A list is written with commas (e.g., "1,3,5" means Mon, Wed, Fri). You can combine them: "1-5/2" means every other day Monday through Friday.
What is the difference between day-of-month and day-of-week?
Both fields restrict when the job runs, but they work together with OR logic by default in most cron implementations. If you specify both a day of month (e.g., "15") and a day of week (e.g., "5"), the job will run on the 15th of the month AND also on every Friday. Use "*" in one of the fields to restrict only by the other.
Are there special cron shortcuts?
Many cron implementations support shortcuts like @hourly (equivalent to 0 * * * *), @daily (0 0 * * *), @weekly (0 0 * * 0), @monthly (0 0 1 * *), and @yearly (0 0 1 1 *). However, these are not part of the POSIX cron standard and availability varies by system. This tool works with the standard 5-field format for maximum portability.

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