Cron Expression Generator
What it is: Scheduled jobs: have your server run a command automatically at a time you set (e.g. every midnight), no babysitting required.
When to use: When you need scheduled backups, cleanup, or scripts — a cron expression describes "when to run".
0-59
0-23
1-31
1-12
0-6 (0=Sun)
What this expression means
Next 5 run times (local timezone)
Everything is computed locally in your browser — no data is uploaded.
Once generated, where does it go?
A cron expression only describes when; what actually runs is a command. Join the two on one line and drop it into your system's scheduler. The examples below update live with the expression above.
1 Linux / macOS: crontab (most common)
Use this to run scripts on a schedule on a server. Enter the command you want to run to get the full "expression + command" line:
- 1. In a terminal, run
crontab -eto open the current user's cron jobs - 2. Paste the whole line above
- 3. Save and exit (in vim, press
Esc, type:wqand hit Enter) - 4. Run
crontab -lto list the jobs you've added
/usr/bin/python3); it also helps to write output to a log for debugging by appending >> /var/log/mytask.log 2>&1 to the command.2 System-wide: /etc/cron.d (one extra "user" field)
When writing into /etc/crontab or a file under /etc/cron.d/, you need one extra field — "which user to run as" — compared to a user crontab (requires root):
3 Windows: no cron — use Task Scheduler
Windows doesn't support cron syntax; here are three equivalent approaches:
- • GUI: search the Start menu for "Task Scheduler", create a task, and set its trigger time.
- • Command-line schtasks, e.g. "run every day at 03:00":
schtasks /create /tn "MyTask" /tr "C:\path\script.bat" /sc daily /st 03:00• Or install WSL (Linux on Windows) and use the crontab above directly.
Note: schtasks uses its own flags (/sc daily, /sc hourly…) and does not accept cron expressions; for complex schedules, prefer WSL + crontab.
4 In code or CI (reuse this expression directly)
Many frameworks accept cron expressions directly — just paste the expression generated above:
Node.js(node-cron)
cron.schedule('', () => { /* your task */ })Python(APScheduler)
CronTrigger.from_crontab('')Spring (6 fields — seconds come first; a leading 0 is added automatically)
@Scheduled(cron = "")GitHub Actions
on:
schedule:
- cron: ''Kubernetes CronJob
schedule: ""Common cron expression examples
Click any row to load it into the tool above and see its explanation and run times.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| */5 * * * * | Every 5 minutes |
| 0 * * * * | Every hour, on the hour |
| 0 0 * * * | Every day at midnight |
| 0 3 * * * | Every day at 3 AM (common for backups) |
| 0 9 * * 1 | Every Monday at 9 AM |
| 0 0 1 * * | On the 1st of every month at midnight |
| 0 18 * * 1-5 | Weekdays (Mon–Fri) at 6 PM |
| 30 2 * * 0 | Every Sunday at 2:30 AM |
FAQ
What are the five fields in a cron expression?
From left to right: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where 0 is Sunday). Fields are separated by spaces.
What's the difference between * and */5 in crontab?
* means "every" (e.g. * in the minute field means every minute); */5 means "every 5 units" (e.g. */5 in the minute field means every 5 minutes).
Do both 0 and 7 mean Sunday in the day-of-week field?
In most implementations 0 means Sunday; some also accept 7 for Sunday. For compatibility, stick with 0.
How do I confirm the cron expression AI gave me is correct?
Paste it into the input above and the page instantly shows an explanation and the next 5 run times — you can verify at a glance that it matches your intent, without worrying about AI hallucinations.
Learn more about cron
Start here