"0 9 * * 1-5" — weekdays at 9am
Parses as minute 0, hour 9, every day of the month, every month, day-of-week 1 through 5 (Monday to Friday) — the next 5 run times skip both weekend days automatically.
Cron expression generator
This cron expression generator (and validator) is a real, deterministic 5-field builder: type or build an expression and see it parsed field by field, plus the real next 5 run times computed live from the current moment. It supports the full standard syntax — wildcards, ranges, steps and lists — including cron’s real, if unintuitive, rule for when both the day-of-month and day-of-week fields are restricted at once.
Generate your cron expression
minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
minute 0, hour 9, every day of the month, every month, day-of-week 1-5
Computing…
How to use the cron builder
- Type or pick a cron expression. Enter your own 5-field expression, or start from one of the common presets.
- Check the parsed summary. Read the field-by-field summary to confirm the expression means what you intended.
- Review the next 5 run times. See the real, computed next run times in UTC, based on the current moment.
- Copy the expression. Use the validated expression directly wherever your scheduler or cron job needs it.
Worked examples
The day-of-month / day-of-week OR rule
"0 0 1 * 1" (midnight on the 1st, OR every Monday) matches EITHER field once both are restricted — a real cron behavior this tool implements correctly rather than the more intuitive-seeming AND.
Cron expression generator FAQ
- What does each of the 5 fields mean?
- In order: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week — the same 5-field order every standard cron implementation uses.
- Why do both day fields sometimes act like "OR" instead of "AND"?
- Standard cron uses OR when both the day-of-month and day-of-week fields are restricted at once; this is real, documented cron behavior, not a simplification.
- Does this support seconds as a 6th field?
- No — this builds the standard 5-field cron format (minute through day-of-week), the format most schedulers and crontab files use.
- What time zone are the run times shown in?
- UTC — the same time zone standard cron and most server schedulers use internally, avoiding local-time daylight-saving ambiguity.
- Does this tool store or run my cron job?
- No — it only parses and validates the expression and computes run times locally; nothing is scheduled or sent anywhere.
- What if my expression never actually matches a date?
- The tool shows fewer than 5 results and says so plainly, which itself is useful for catching an impossible expression like February 30th.
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