Cron Expression Generator

Enter a 5-part cron expression and get a plain-English description of when it runs.

By Pankaj Kumar · DevToolsHub· Last updated Jun 2026

Input Section

Cron expression (minute hour day month weekday)

Common presets

Every minute

Every hour

Daily at 9am

Weekdays at 9am

Every Sunday midnight

1st of month

Output Section

Human-readable description

Cron result

What is a cron expression?

A cron expression is a compact string of five space-separated fields that defines a recurring schedule. Originally from Unix's cron daemon, the format is now used universally in task schedulers, CI/CD pipelines, cloud functions (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Scheduler), and container orchestration systems (Kubernetes CronJobs). Each field specifies a time component, and together they define exactly when a job should run.

The five fields explained

Reading left to right, the fields represent:

Minute (0–59) — which minute of the hour to run
Hour (0–23) — which hour of the day (24-hour clock, UTC unless configured otherwise)
Day of month (1–31) — which calendar day to run
Month (1–12 or JAN–DEC) — which months to run
Day of week (0–7 or SUN–SAT, where both 0 and 7 represent Sunday) — which days of the week to run

Special characters

* (asterisk) — every possible value for that field, e.g. * in the minute field means every minute
, (comma) — list of values, e.g. 1,15,30 in the minute field runs at minutes 1, 15, and 30
- (hyphen) — range of values, e.g. 9-17 in the hour field means every hour from 9 AM to 5 PM
/ (slash) — step values, e.g. */15 in the minute field means every 15 minutes

Common schedule examples

* * * * * — every minute
0 * * * * — every hour on the hour
0 0 * * * — midnight every day
0 9 * * 1-5 — 9 AM on weekdays (Monday–Friday)
0 0 * * 0 — midnight every Sunday
0 0 1 * * — midnight on the first day of every month
*/15 * * * * — every 15 minutes
0 2 * * 6 — 2 AM every Saturday

How to use this tool

Type a 5-part cron expression into the input field, or click a preset chip to load a common schedule.
Click Explain to get a plain-English description of when the expression runs.
Copy the final expression for use in your scheduler.

Timezone considerations

The standard cron format has no timezone field — cron daemons run in the system timezone of the server. Cloud schedulers like AWS EventBridge and GitHub Actions workflows default to UTC. If your job needs to run at a specific local time, convert from your local timezone to UTC before writing the expression. For example, 9 AM IST (UTC+5:30) is 0 3:30 * * * in UTC, but since cron does not support half-hour offsets, adjust accordingly or use a platform that supports timezone-aware scheduling like Google Cloud Scheduler.

FAQ

What format does this tool accept?

Standard 5-part cron expressions: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day-of-month (1–31), month (1–12), day-of-week (0–6, Sunday=0).

Are seconds supported?

No. This tool uses the classic Unix 5-part format, not the 6-part format used by some schedulers.

What do the 5 fields in a cron expression mean?

From left to right: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), day of week (0–7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday).

How do I run a job every 15 minutes?

Use */15 * * * * — the */n syntax means 'every n units'. This expression runs at minute 0, 15, 30, and 45 of every hour.

What does * mean in a cron expression?

An asterisk (*) means 'every valid value'. For example, * in the hour field means the job runs every hour.

Can I schedule a job on weekdays only?

Yes. Use * * * * 1-5 to run every minute on weekdays, or 0 9 * * 1-5 to run at 9 AM Monday through Friday.