Cron Expression Generator

Read from left to right: Minute (0-59), Hour (0-23), Day of month (1-31), Month (1-12), Day of week (0-6, where 0=Sunday). Special characters include: * (any value), , (list separator), - (range), / (step values). For example, '*/15 * * * *' means 'every 15 minutes'.

The '*/5' syntax means 'every 5 units' of the specified field. For example, '*/5' in the minute field means 'every 5 minutes', '*/2' in the hour field means 'every 2 hours'. It's a shorthand for step values starting from the minimum value.

Yes! Use '1-5' in the weekday field (the 5th field). For example, '0 9 * * 1-5' runs at 9:00 AM Monday through Friday. You can also use specific days like '1,3,5' for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only.

Set exact values in the minute and hour fields. For example, '30 14 * * *' runs at 2:30 PM daily, '0 0 1 * *' runs at midnight on the 1st of every month. Use commas for multiple times: '0 9,17 * * *' runs at 9 AM and 5 PM daily.

Day of month (3rd field) specifies calendar dates (1-31), while day of week (5th field) specifies weekdays (0-6, Sunday-Saturday). If both are specified (not *), the job runs when EITHER condition is met. Usually, set one to * and specify the other.

Use our tool's description feature to see the human-readable schedule, check for validation errors, and verify the timing matches your needs. You can also use online cron calculators or set up a test cron job that logs to a file to verify the schedule works as expected.

Common issues include: values outside valid ranges (e.g., minute 60, hour 24), invalid syntax (missing spaces, wrong characters), or malformed ranges (e.g., '10-5' instead of '5-10'). Our validator will show specific error messages to help you fix the expression.