Cron Expression Generator
Build cron expressions visually or paste one to decode it.
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Common Presets
Next 5 Scheduled Runs
Cron Field Reference
| Field | Allowed Values | Special Characters |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0–59 | * , - / |
| Hour | 0–23 | * , - / |
| Day of Month | 1–31 | * , - / ? |
| Month | 1–12 or JAN–DEC | * , - / |
| Day of Week | 0–7 (0 & 7 = Sunday) or SUN–SAT | * , - / ? |
* Every value */n Every n-th value a-b Range from a to b a,b,c List of values Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron expression?▼
A cron expression is a string of 5 (or 6) fields separated by spaces that defines a schedule for running a task automatically. It is used by the Unix cron daemon and modern schedulers like GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, Kubernetes CronJobs, and many CI/CD tools.
What does * * * * * mean?▼
"* * * * *" means every minute of every hour of every day. Each asterisk represents "any value" for that field (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week).
How do I run something every 5 minutes?▼
Use "*/5 * * * *". The slash (/) denotes a step value — */5 in the minute field means "every 5 minutes starting from 0": 0, 5, 10, 15, ..., 55.
What is the difference between day-of-month and day-of-week?▼
Day-of-month (field 3) targets a specific date number like the 15th. Day-of-week (field 5) targets a specific weekday like Monday. If both are set to non-wildcard values, most schedulers run the job when either condition is true.
Are cron expressions the same everywhere?▼
Not exactly. The standard Unix cron has 5 fields. Some systems add a 6th field for seconds or year. AWS and some tools use a slightly different syntax. This generator covers the standard 5-field POSIX cron format used by crontab, most Linux schedulers, and GitHub Actions.