About the Cron Expression Parser
A cron expression like 30 2 * * 1-5 packs a schedule into five fields, and it is easy to get one wrong by a field. This parser explains the expression in a sentence ("At 02:30, on Monday through Friday"), lists each field with its value, and calculates the next run times in UTC so you can confirm the schedule does what you intended before it goes into a crontab, a Kubernetes CronJob or a CI workflow.
It supports the standard five-field syntax with ranges (1-5), lists (1,15), steps (*/10), month and weekday names (JAN, MON), Sunday as 0 or 7, and the @daily, @hourly and similar aliases. A six-field expression with seconds is accepted by dropping the seconds field. Out-of-range values are reported with the field that is wrong.
Next runs are computed in UTC; adjust for your server's time zone if it is not UTC. To build an expression from choices rather than parse one, use the Cron Generator.
How to use
- Paste the cron expression.
- Read the plain-English meaning and the field breakdown.
- Check the next run times match your intent.
Common questions
- What do the five fields mean?
- Minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week, in that order.
- Are the next runs in my time zone?
- They are shown in UTC. Convert with the Timezone Converter if your server runs elsewhere.
- What happens when both day of month and day of week are set?
- Standard cron runs when either matches, and this parser follows that rule.
- Are @daily and @hourly supported?
- Yes, along with @weekly, @monthly, @yearly and @midnight.