Cron Expression Parser
Cron expressions are used in Unix-like systems and many scheduling tools (cron, systemd timers, Kubernetes CronJobs, GitHub Actions) to define recurring schedules. Each expression consists of five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week.
This tool parses any standard 5-field cron expression into a human-readable description and shows the next 5 scheduled run times. It supports wildcards (*), ranges (1-5), lists (1,3,5), and step values (*/15).
How it works
A cron expression has the format: minute (0-59) hour (0-23) day-of-month (1-31) month (1-12) day-of-week (0-6, where 0 = Sunday). Special characters: * (any), , (list), - (range), / (step).
Use cases
- Verifying cron schedules before deploying to production
- Understanding legacy cron expressions in existing systems
- Planning scheduled tasks for CI/CD pipelines
- Debugging timing issues in cron-based automation