⏰ Cron Expression Builder
Build cron expressions with visual dropdowns. See a human-readable explanation and the next 5 execution times.
Cron Expression Builder
A cron expression is a string of five fields that define a schedule: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–6). This tool helps you build cron expressions using dropdowns and provides a human-readable explanation.
Special Characters
- * (asterisk) — matches any value (every)
- */n — matches every nth value (step)
- , (comma) — separates a list of values
- - (hyphen) — defines a range
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cron?
Cron is a time-based job scheduler in Unix-like operating systems. It uses cron expressions to define when scheduled tasks (cron jobs) should run. A cron expression is a string of five fields separated by spaces: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week.
How do I read a cron expression?
A cron expression has five fields: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–6, where 0 is Sunday). Each field can use *, specific values, ranges (1–5), steps (*/5), or lists (1,3,5). For example, '*/5 * * * *' means every 5 minutes.
Does cron account for timezones?
No, cron expressions themselves do not include timezone information. The cron daemon runs in the system's local timezone. If you need a specific timezone, you must set the system timezone or use timezone-aware schedulers like node-cron with a TZ option.
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