Test any cron expression and see when it will run next. Paste a full crontab line or edit individual fields.
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Start monitoring →| Field | Values | Special |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0–59 | * , - / |
| Hour | 0–23 | * , - / |
| Day of Month | 1–31 | * , - / |
| Month | 1–12 | * , - / |
| Day of Week | 0–6 (Sun=0) | * , - / |
* = any
, = list (1,3,5)
- = range (1-5)
/ = step (*/5 = every 5)
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
* * * * * | Every minute |
*/5 * * * * | Every 5 minutes |
0 * * * * | Every hour at :00 |
0 0 * * * | Daily at midnight |
0 2 * * * | Daily at 2:00 AM |
0 9 * * 1-5 | Weekdays at 9:00 AM |
0 0 * * 0 | Weekly on Sunday at midnight |
0 0 1 * * | First day of every month |
0 0 1 1 * | Yearly on January 1st |
*/15 9-17 * * 1-5 | Every 15 min during business hours |
A cron expression is five fields separated by spaces, representing minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. The cron daemon checks every minute whether the current time matches the expression. If it does, the associated command runs.
The most common mistake is getting the field order wrong. Remember: it goes from most specific (minute) to least specific (day of week), left to right.
If both day-of-month and day-of-week are set (not *), the job runs when either condition is met — not both. This surprises many people.
CronPulse offers a free cron expression API — no signup required. Parse cron expressions and get next run times programmatically:
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