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Cron Job Schedule Generator

A cron expression calculator: describe a schedule in plain English, build it from a few fields, or paste a 5-part expression to see what it means.

Set the Schedule

Type it the way you'd say it. Work hours means 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

Try
Or build it

Every 5 minutes

Minute
*/5Every 5 minutes
Hour
*Any hour
Day of Month
*Any day
Month
*Any month
Day of Week
*Any day of week

Common Examples

How to use this tool

  1. Understand the five cron fields

    A cron expression has five fields 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 and 7 are Sunday). Each field defines when the job runs.

  2. Set the minute and hour

    Pick the exact minute and hour the task should fire. Use a single number for a specific time (30 2 for 02:30) or the slash operator for intervals (*/5 in minute for every 5 minutes).

  3. Set the day, month, and weekday

    Choose which days of the month, months, and weekdays the job runs. An asterisk means every. Use commas for lists (1,15), hyphens for ranges (1-5), and slashes for steps (*/10).

  4. Copy the generated expression

    The calculator builds a standard five-field cron string and translates it into plain English. Copy the expression into a Linux or Unix crontab, or a Kubernetes CronJob manifest. AWS EventBridge uses a six-field form, so use the dedicated EventBridge guide before copying a schedule there.

About this tool

The Cron Job Schedule Generator translates the 5-part cron syntax into plain English. It's built for backend developers, system administrators, and devops engineers.

Whether you're scheduling a Kubernetes CronJob or a standard Linux crontab file, use the visual builder to generate a five-field string, or paste an expression to check when it runs. AWS EventBridge has a separate six-field format with a year field and different day-field rules.

Advanced Syntax Operators

Standard cron expressions support a few special operators to make scheduling easier.

  • The comma (,) allows you to specify a list of values (like 1,15 for the 1st and 15th).
  • The hyphen (-) allows you to specify a range (like 1-5 for Monday through Friday).
  • The slash (/) allows you to specify step values (like */10 in the minute field to run every 10 minutes).

Steps restart when the field rolls over, so */5 in the hour field runs at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20, then again at midnight.

Popular cron patterns

Pre-built expressions and plain-English explanations for common schedules.

Every 5 minutes
The */5 step operator for health checks and polling
View details
Every 15 minutes
Quarter hour polling and steps that restart each hour
View details
Every 30 minutes
Twice an hour, working hours and the :00 pile-up
View details

Frequently asked questions

What is a Cron Job?
A cron job is a scheduled task that runs automatically on a Unix-like operating system (like Linux or macOS) at specific intervals. Developers use it for background tasks like database backups, cache clearing, or nightly emails.
What do the 5 parts of a cron expression mean?
From left to right, the 5 fields are: Minute (0-59), Hour (0-23), Day of the Month (1-31), Month (1-12), and Day of the Week (0-6, where 0 and 7 are Sunday).
What does the asterisk (*) mean in Cron?
The asterisk is a wildcard, meaning 'every'. For example, if the minute field is an asterisk, the task runs every single minute. If the month field is an asterisk, the task runs every single month.
How do I run a task every 5 minutes?
To run a task every 5 minutes, use the slash operator in the minute field like this: */5 * * * *. The */5 means 'every 5th minute'.

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