What does a cron expression mean?

Each cron expression describes a recurring schedule using five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Paste one above to see exactly when it will run in plain English.

What does */15 * * * * mean?

It runs every 15 minutes, of every hour, every day. The */15 in the minute field means 'every 15th minute'; the asterisks mean 'every' for the remaining fields.

How do I create a cron expression?

Use the generator above to pick the minute, hour, day, month, and weekday you want. It builds a valid expression you can copy directly into your crontab or scheduler.

All tools/Data Converter

Cron Expression Parser

Runs locally

Translate complex cron schedules into plain English and instantly calculate upcoming execution dates.

Meaning

“At 00:00, on day 1 and 15 of the month”

Structure Breakdown

Minute

Part 1

Hour

Part 2

1,15

Day of Month

Part 3

Month

Part 4

Day of Week

Part 5

Next 5 Executions

Next Run

Mon, Jun 15, 2026, 12:00:00 AM

Run +2

Wed, Jul 1, 2026, 12:00:00 AM

Run +3

Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 12:00:00 AM

Run +4

Sat, Aug 1, 2026, 12:00:00 AM

Run +5

Sat, Aug 15, 2026, 12:00:00 AM

A cron expression is a compact schedule made of five (or six) fields that tells a scheduler when to run a job. This cron parser and generator translates any expression into plain English, shows the next run times, and helps you build a valid schedule field by field — all in your browser.

How to read and build a cron expression

1Paste a cron expression (e.g. */15 * * * *) to see a human-readable description and the upcoming run times.
2Or set minute, hour, day, month, and weekday with the builder to generate a valid expression.
3Copy the finished expression into your crontab, CI pipeline, or scheduler.

The five cron fields

A standard cron expression has five fields: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–6). Special characters give you flexibility — * means every value, */n means every n units, a-b is a range, and a,b,c is a list. Some schedulers add an optional seconds field at the front.

Frequently asked questions

What does a cron expression mean?: Each cron expression describes a recurring schedule using five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Paste one above to see exactly when it will run in plain English.
What does */15 * * * * mean?: It runs every 15 minutes, of every hour, every day. The */15 in the minute field means 'every 15th minute'; the asterisks mean 'every' for the remaining fields.
How do I create a cron expression?: Use the generator above to pick the minute, hour, day, month, and weekday you want. It builds a valid expression you can copy directly into your crontab or scheduler.