Tools / Cron Expression Explainer
Cron Expression Explainer
Paste a crontab line and read what it actually does. The explainer spells the schedule out in English and lists the next runs, so you can catch an off-by-one before it reaches the server.
minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
This schedule means
At 09:00 on Monday through Friday.
Next 5 runs
- 2026-08-31 09:00
- 2026-09-01 09:00
- 2026-09-02 09:00
- 2026-09-03 09:00
- 2026-09-04 09:00
Times are shown in your local zone (Europe/Berlin). A server usually runs cron in its own zone, often UTC.
Frequently asked questions
Which cron syntax is supported?
Standard five-field crontab syntax with wildcards, ranges, lists and steps, plus month and weekday names such as JAN or MON-FRI. The @daily, @hourly, @weekly, @monthly and @yearly macros are expanded too.
Does 0 or 7 mean Sunday?
Both do. Cron accepts either value for Sunday, and the explainer collapses 7 to 0 before matching.
Why does 0 0 13 * 5 run more often than I expect?
When day-of-month and day-of-week are both restricted, cron fires if either one matches. That expression runs on the 13th of every month and on every Friday, not only on Friday the 13th.
Which time zone are the runs in?
Your browser's local zone. Servers usually run cron in their own zone, often UTC, so check the server setting before relying on the times.
What if my expression never runs?
The search covers about four years of dates. Expressions that can never match, such as February 30, are reported instead of hanging the page.
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