Back to Tools
Developer UtilitiesBeginnerLive
Cron Explainer
cronschedulelinuxautomationdevops
Updated May 4, 2026
Paste any cron expression and instantly see a plain-English explanation of when it runs — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week broken out individually. Next-run timestamps are calculated live from your current time.
Includes 12 common presets (every hour, every weekday, first of month, etc.), a field-level color-coded breakdown, and a quick-reference table for all special characters (*, /, -, ,). Everything runs client-side.
minhourdommonthdow
Runs
Every 15 minutes, past hour 9-17, on 1-5
Minute
*/15
Every 15 minute(s) (0, 15, 30, 45…)
Hour
9-17
From 9 to 17 (9 values)
Day of Month
*
Every day of month
Month
*
Every month
Day of Week
1-5
From 1 to 5 (5 values)
Next 5 runs
- 1Mon, Jun 8, 12:45 PM
- 2Mon, Jun 8, 01:00 PM
- 3Mon, Jun 8, 01:15 PM
- 4Mon, Jun 8, 01:30 PM
- 5Mon, Jun 8, 01:45 PM
Common presets
Field reference
| Field | Range | Special chars | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0–59 | * , - / | */5 = every 5 min |
| Hour | 0–23 | * , - / | 9-17 = 9am to 5pm |
| Day of Month | 1–31 | * , - / | 1,15 = 1st and 15th |
| Month | 1–12 | * , - / | 3-5 = Mar to May |
| Day of Week | 0–7 | * , - / | 1-5 = Mon to Fri (0,7=Sun) |