What is a cron expression?

A cron expression is a 5-field time specification (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) used to schedule recurring tasks on Unix-like systems.

What do the 5 fields mean?

From left to right: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), day of week (0-6, 0=Sunday).

Cron Expression Parser

Parse and explain cron expressions in plain English. See next 5 run times.

How to use: Enter a cron expression to see a human-readable description and next run times.

Cron Expression

At minute */5 of every hour

*/5

Minute

Hour

Day of Month

Month

Day of Week

Next 5 Runs

05/04/2026, 15:55:00
05/04/2026, 16:00:00
05/04/2026, 16:05:00
05/04/2026, 16:10:00
05/04/2026, 16:15:00

Understand Cron Expressions

Enter a 5-field cron expression to see a human-readable description and the next 5 scheduled run times. Use presets for common schedules. Each field is explained visually.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a cron expression?: A cron expression is a 5-field time specification (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) used to schedule recurring tasks on Unix-like systems.
What do the 5 fields mean?: From left to right: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), day of week (0-6, 0=Sunday).