What is a cron expression?

A cron expression is a string of five space-separated fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) that tells the cron daemon when to run a job. For example, "0 2 * * *" means every day at 2:00 AM.

What does the asterisk (*) mean?

An asterisk means "every possible value" for that field. "* * * * *" runs every minute, every hour, every day.

What is the difference between day-of-month and day-of-week?

Day-of-month (field 3) is a calendar date like the 1st or 15th. Day-of-week (field 5) is a named day like Monday or Friday. Most cron implementations run the job when EITHER condition is met if both are set to non-wildcard values.

How do step values like */15 work?

A step value means every N units. */15 in the minute field means every 15 minutes (0, 15, 30, 45). Cron also accepts a range with a step, such as 0-30/5, but the builder here does not create one and the run-time preview does not read it correctly.

Does this tool support seconds?

No. Standard Unix and Linux cron uses 5 fields with no seconds, and that is what this tool makes. It works with crontab, GitHub Actions and Kubernetes CronJobs. Quartz and Spring add a seconds field at the start. AWS EventBridge adds a year field at the end and needs ? in either the day-of-month or day-of-week field.

Are the next-run times in UTC or local time?

The next-run preview uses your browser's local time zone. When deploying a cron job on a server, confirm the server's time zone matches your intended schedule.

How do I run a job at two set times, like 9 AM and 5 PM?

Use a comma list in the hour field: 0 9,17 * * * runs at 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM every day. The field selectors cannot build lists, so type it in the expression box. Crontab accepts it, but this page's description and next-run preview only read the first value.

What time zone does GitHub Actions cron use?

GitHub Actions runs scheduled workflows in UTC, so 0 9 * * * fires at 9:00 AM UTC, not 9:00 AM in your city. Convert your local time to UTC first. GitHub also allows no interval shorter than 5 minutes, and runs can start late when its servers are busy.

Cron Expression Generator

Build cron expressions visually, get a plain-English description, and preview the next 5 scheduled run times.

A cron expression has five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week.

Quick Presets

Field Editor

Minute (0–59)

Hour (0–23)

Day of Month (1–31)

Month (1–12)

Day of Week (0=Sun … 6=Sat)

Or type expression directly

Cron Expression

* * * * *

Minute

Hour

Day/Month

Month

Day/Week

Human-Readable Description

Next 5 Run Times (your local time)

Copied!

Quick answer

A cron expression has five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week. Pick a preset or set each field, and the generator writes the expression with a plain-English description and the next 5 run times in your time zone. For example, 0 2 * * * runs every day at 2:00 AM and */15 * * * * runs every 15 minutes.

Examples

Expression	When it runs
/15 * * *	Every 15 minutes
0 * * * *	Every hour, on the hour
0 2 * * *	Every day at 2:00 AM
30 8 * * 1	Mondays at 8:30 AM
0 9-17 * * 1-5	Weekdays, hourly 9 AM–5 PM
0 0 1 * *	12:00 AM on the 1st
0 0 1 1 *	12:00 AM on January 1

Pick a preset or set each field.

Summary

The Cron Expression Generator lets you build cron job schedules without memorizing cryptic syntax. Use the visual selectors for minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week fields, and the tool instantly produces the correct expression. A plain-English description and a list of the next 5 run times help you confirm the schedule before you deploy.

How it works

Choose a preset schedule or start from the custom fields.
Adjust the minute, hour, day, month, and weekday selectors.
The cron expression updates in real time as you make changes.
Read the human-readable description to confirm the schedule is correct.
Review the next 5 run times for additional assurance.
Click "Copy Expression" to paste it into your crontab or CI config.

Use cases

Schedule a nightly database backup at 2:00 AM.
Run a cache-clearing script every 15 minutes.
Trigger a weekly report email every Monday at 8:00 AM.
Configure CI/CD pipelines with accurate cron triggers.
Set up health-check pings at regular intervals.
Build data-sync jobs that run on specific days of the month.
Generate crontab lines for server maintenance windows.
Verify an existing cron expression with the human-readable preview.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-05-29 · Reviewed by Nham Vu