Cron expression generator and explainer
Check a five-field cron schedule before adding it to your scheduler. Read the field labels and upcoming UTC times, or start with a preset such as weekdays at 09:00.
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Five fields: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
Runs at 09:00, on Monday to Friday.
Next 5 runs (UTC)
- 2026-10-05 09:00
- 2026-10-06 09:00
- 2026-10-07 09:00
- 2026-10-08 09:00
- 2026-10-09 09:00
Common schedules
Next-run times are in UTC. Your server or scheduler may use a different timezone, and some platforms add a sixth seconds field or support non-standard extensions such as @daily and L. When both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted, standard cron runs on either match, not both.
How to use
- Enter a schedule or choose a preset. Use five numeric fields: minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week. Do not include a command or a seconds field.
- Check the fields and dates. For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 means 09:00 on weekdays. Review the listed UTC runs as well as the English description.
- Match your scheduler’s rules. Check its timezone and supported cron syntax before using Copy expression. This page explains a schedule; it does not create or run a job.
Questions
How do lists, ranges and steps work?
The ranges are minute 0–59, hour 0–23, day 1–31, month 1–12 and weekday 0–6, with Sunday as 0. An asterisk selects every value; 1,3,5 is a list, 1-5 is a range, and */15 in the minute field selects 0, 15, 30 and 45.
What if I restrict both day fields?
The run calculation uses either match. For example, 0 0 13 * 5 runs at midnight on every 13th and every Friday, not just Friday the 13th. The English description joins the fields with "and", which can be misleading; read it as two sets of eligible days.
Are these times in my local timezone?
No, they are UTC. Your scheduler may use another timezone and different daylight-saving rules. The list is calculated when the expression changes, rather than updating continuously as time passes.
Why are there fewer than five runs, or a “never runs” message?
The search looks ahead only 366 days. Annual schedules may have just one result, and a future leap-day schedule may have none within that window. The “never runs” message is not proof that a schedule can never match; check rare schedules over a longer period.
Which cron variants are supported?
This tool accepts numeric five-field expressions with lists, ranges and steps. It does not support a seconds field, month or weekday names, Sunday as 7, @daily, L, W or #. A schedule accepted here still needs checking against the scheduler that will run it.
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