{}DevTools Kit

Cron Expression Explainer

Translate a cron expression into plain English and see what each field means, with a cheatsheet of common schedules. Free and instant.

// cron○ ready

Enter a cron expression to explain it.

·
Minute
0–59
·
Hour
0–23
·
Day of month
1–31
·
Month
1–12
·
Day of week
0–6 (Sun=0)

Common schedules · click to use

About this cron expression explainer

Cron expressions are powerful but easy to misread — a single field in the wrong place can mean “every minute” instead of “once a day”. Paste an expression and this tool translates it into plain English, highlights each field, and offers common schedules you can drop in and adapt.

Frequently asked questions

What do the five cron fields mean?
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). A * means “every”.
What does */5 mean?
A step value. In the minute field, */5 means “every 5 minutes”. The same syntax works in other fields, e.g. */2 in the hour field means every 2 hours.
Is this standard cron?
Yes, it explains standard 5-field cron expressions used by crontab, most schedulers, and CI systems.

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