سهلSahel

Cron Expression Explainer

Understand a cron expression in a sentence, and see when it runs next

calendar_today Last updated: October 9, 2026

minute   hour   day-of-month   month   day-of-week

In words

Every 15 minutes, during hours 9 through 17, on Monday through Friday

كل 15 دقيقة، خلال الساعات من 9 إلى 17، من الاثنين إلى الجمعة

Minute

*/15

0, 15, 30, 45

Hour

9-17

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Day of month

*

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, …

Month

*

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Day of week

1-5

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Next runs

12026-01-01 09:00 UTCThu
22026-01-01 09:15 UTCThu
32026-01-01 09:30 UTCThu
42026-01-01 09:45 UTCThu
52026-01-01 10:00 UTCThu
62026-01-01 10:15 UTCThu
72026-01-01 10:30 UTCThu
82026-01-01 10:45 UTCThu
92026-01-01 11:00 UTCThu
102026-01-01 11:15 UTCThu

Times are in UTC, the zone most servers run in; your own local time is shown beside them.

Follows classic five-field cron: when both day-of-month and day-of-week are set, a day matches if either does. Quartz syntax (seconds, L, W, #) is not supported. Runs in your browser.

lightbulb

Sahel's cron explainer turns a cron expression into plain language and lists the next run times, in your browser.

help_outline

How does this tool work?

1

Type a cron expression

Five fields: minute, hour, day, month, weekday.

2

Read the explanation

A plain sentence describing the schedule.

3

See the next runs

The upcoming run times in UTC.

Frequently asked questions

What do the five fields mean? expand_more
In order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), day of week (0-6).
What does */5 mean? expand_more
Every five units, so */5 in the minute field means every five minutes.
What if I set both day of month and day of week? expand_more
In standard cron the job runs when either matches, not both.
What time zone are the runs shown in? expand_more
UTC; check your server's actual time zone before relying on them.

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