What is a 5-field cron expression?

It is a schedule made of five space-separated fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Each field accepts a number, a list, a range, a step, or an asterisk that means every value.

Does this tool support seconds or special strings like @daily?

This explainer reads the standard 5-field format only. It does not handle a 6-field expression with seconds or shortcuts such as @daily and @reboot, so convert those to five fields first.

Is my cron expression sent to a server?

No. The text is read and translated entirely in your browser with local JavaScript, so your expression never leaves your device. That keeps internal schedules and job details private.

What does '0 9 * * 1' mean?

It runs at 09:00 every Monday. The minute is 0, the hour is 9, the day of month and month are every value, and the day of week is 1, which is Monday.

Cron Expression Explainer

Input

Output

What the Cron Expression Explainer does

This tool takes a standard 5-field cron expression and turns it into a plain English sentence so you can tell what it does at a glance. The five fields are minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week, and the explainer reads each one, including numbers, ranges, lists, steps, and asterisks. It helps backend developers, DevOps engineers, sysadmins, and anyone editing a crontab or a scheduled job who wants to confirm the timing before saving it. Instead of decoding asterisks and commas in your head, you get a readable description you can trust.

How to use the Cron Expression Explainer

Copy your cron expression from a crontab, a CI config, a scheduler, or a job definition.
Paste it into the text box. It should have five fields separated by spaces, for example 0 9 * * 1.
The plain English explanation appears right away, such as runs at 09:00 on Monday. There is no button to press.
Adjust a field and reread the result to check that the new timing matches what you intended.

A quick worked example

Take */15 9-17 * * 1-5. The first field, */15, means every 15 minutes. The second, 9-17, means during the hours from 9 to 17. The last field, 1-5, means Monday through Friday. Read together, it runs every 15 minutes between 09:00 and 17:00 on weekdays, a common pattern for business-hours jobs.

It all runs in your browser. Your expression is never uploaded, so it is private by default, instant, free, and needs no sign-up.

Frequently asked questions

What is a 5-field cron expression?: It is a schedule made of five space-separated fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Each field accepts a number, a list, a range, a step, or an asterisk that means every value.
Does this tool support seconds or special strings like @daily?: This explainer reads the standard 5-field format only. It does not handle a 6-field expression with seconds or shortcuts such as @daily and @reboot, so convert those to five fields first.
Is my cron expression sent to a server?: No. The text is read and translated entirely in your browser with local JavaScript, so your expression never leaves your device. That keeps internal schedules and job details private.
What does '0 9 * * 1' mean?: It runs at 09:00 every Monday. The minute is 0, the hour is 9, the day of month and month are every value, and the day of week is 1, which is Monday.

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Last updated: June 17, 2026