Cron expression generator
Pick when a job should run and get the cron expression, or paste one to see what it means and when it runs next.
Next runs, in your time zone ()
How a cron expression works
A cron expression is five values separated by spaces. The job runs at every minute that matches all five.
| Position | Means | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minute | 0 to 59 |
| 2 | Hour, on a 24-hour clock | 0 to 23 |
| 3 | Day of the month | 1 to 31 |
| 4 | Month | 1 to 12, or JAN to DEC |
| 5 | Day of the week | 0 to 6 from Sunday (7 is Sunday too), or SUN to SAT |
| Write | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| * | Any value | * * * * * runs every minute |
| , | A list | 0 9,17 * * * runs at 9:00 and 17:00 |
| - | A range | 0 9 * * 1-5 runs on weekdays |
| / | A step | */15 * * * * runs every 15 minutes |
| @daily | Shortcuts | @hourly, @daily, @weekly, @monthly, @yearly and @reboot |
When both the day of the month and the day of the week are set, the job runs on days that match either one. So 0 6 13 * 5 runs on the 13th and on every Friday.
Where cron expressions are used
Use it as a crontab calculator: build the five fields and check the next run times, shown in your own time zone, before you save the job.
- Linux and macOS crontab jobs such as backups, reports and clean-ups.
- Scheduled tasks in hosting panels, CI pipelines and job runners.
- Django, Laravel and Node apps that run jobs on a schedule.
Questions
Which time zone does cron use?
The time zone of the server running it, which is often UTC on hosting. The next runs here are shown in your own time zone, so check the difference.
How do I run a job every 5 minutes?
Use */5 * * * *.
Does this work with Quartz, AWS or Kubernetes?
Kubernetes CronJobs and GitHub Actions use the same five fields. Quartz and AWS EventBridge add fields for seconds or years and differ in small ways, so adjust the expression for them.
What do the five fields mean?
Minute, hour, day of the month, month and day of the week, in that order.
How do I run a job every day at midnight?
Use 0 0 * * *, which means minute 0 of hour 0 on every day.
Related tools
Last updated 12 November 2026.