Cron Expression Explainer
Paste a cron expression to see each field broken out and a plain-English description of the schedule it produces.
Cron expression
*/15
Minute
9-17
Hour
*
Day (month)
*
Month
1-5
Day (week)
Plain-English description
Runs every 15 minute(s) starting at 0, hours 9 through 17, weekdays Mon through Fri.
How it works
Cron expressions are compact but easy to misread — a single digit in the wrong field can mean a job runs at 3 AM instead of 3 PM, or every month instead of once a year. This tool parses each of the five fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week) and explains what the whole expression means in plain language.
Need to go the other direction — you know the schedule you want but not the syntax? Try the Cron Expression Builder.
Examples
*/15 9-17 * * 1-5
Business-hours polling job.
Runs every 15 minutes, past hours 9 through 17, weekdays Mon through Fri.
0 0 1 1 *
Once a year.
Runs every day at 00:00, month Jan.
0 */2 * * *
Every other hour.
Runs at minute 0, every 2 hour(s) starting at 0.