Cron Expression Generator & Explainer
Build a crontab schedule or paste one to see it in plain English with the next 10 run times — in your time, IST or UTC.
About Cron Expression Generator & Explainer
This cron expression generator builds a crontab schedule from simple choices — minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week — or explains any cron expression you paste in plain English, such as “At 09:30 on every day-of-week from Monday through Friday”.
It shows the next 10 run times in your time zone, India Standard Time or UTC, so you can check a cron job before you add it to a Linux server or a cPanel hosting panel. Presets cover every 5 minutes, hourly, daily at midnight, weekdays and monthly jobs, and you can copy the full crontab line with your command.
How to use Cron Expression Generator & Explainer
- Pick a preset or choose each field (minute, hour, day, month, weekday) from the lists.
- Or type or paste any 5-field cron expression — it is explained in plain English as you type.
- Choose the server time zone to see the next 10 run times.
- Add your command and copy the full crontab line.
Frequently asked questions
What do the five fields mean?
In order: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12 or JAN–DEC) and day of week (0–7 or SUN–SAT, where 0 and 7 are both Sunday). * means every value, a-b a range, */n every n-th value and commas make a list.
Why does my job run on more days than expected?
When both day of month and day of week are restricted (neither starts with *), cron runs when either matches. 0 9 1 * 1 runs on the 1st of the month and on every Monday.
Which time zone does cron use?
The server’s own time zone (often UTC on cloud servers; cPanel hosts show it in the cron page). Choose UTC or IST above to match your server. 09:30 IST is 04:00 UTC.
Does it support seconds or L and W?
No — this tool follows the standard Linux crontab (cronie / Vixie cron) with 5 fields. Seconds, years and the L, W and # characters belong to Quartz or Spring schedulers.
How do I run a cron job every 5 minutes?
Use */5 * * * *. The */5 in the minute field means every fifth minute, and the stars mean every hour, day, month and weekday.
What does 0 0 * * * mean in cron?
It runs once a day at midnight (00:00) in the server’s time zone. @daily is a shortcut for the same schedule.
How do I schedule a cron job for 9 AM IST on a UTC server?
IST is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of UTC, so 09:00 IST is 03:30 UTC: use 30 3 * * *. Set the time zone to UTC above to check the run times.
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