Cron Expression Explainer
Translate cron expressions into plain English and see the next scheduled run times.
Minute
Hour
Day
Month
Weekday
Common Presets
How to Use
- Type or paste a cron expression (e.g. "0 9 * * 1").
- The plain-English description updates instantly.
- See the next 5 scheduled run times displayed below.
- Use the preset buttons for common schedules like "every day at midnight" or "every hour".
Frequently Asked Questions
QWhat is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of 5 fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) used to schedule recurring tasks. Example: "0 9 * * 1" means "every Monday at 9:00 AM".
QDoes this support 6-field expressions?
Yes — if you provide 6 fields, the first is treated as seconds (common in tools like Quartz Scheduler).
QWhat do * and ? mean?
"*" means every possible value for that field. "?" means no specific value (used in day-of-month and day-of-week to avoid conflicts).
About This Tool
Cron parsing and next-run calculation are done entirely in JavaScript without any external libraries. Times are shown in your local timezone.