Crontab Generator
Type a cron expression to see what it means in plain English and when it runs next, or build one from the presets and per-field menus. Everything updates live and stays in the URL so you can share it.
This schedule means
Next 5 runs (times in )
Times are shown in your browser's timezone. Servers usually run cron in the system timezone, which is often UTC, so verify the target zone before scheduling.
How a cron expression works
A crontab entry starts with five fields that define the schedule, followed by the command to run. This tool covers the five schedule fields:
| Field | Allowed values | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0-59 | Minute of the hour |
| Hour | 0-23 | Hour of the day (24-hour clock) |
| Day of month | 1-31 | Day of the month |
| Month | 1-12 or JAN-DEC | Month of the year |
| Day of week | 0-7 or SUN-SAT | Day of the week (0 and 7 are both Sunday) |
Each field accepts a single value (5), a list (1,15,30), a range (1-5), a step (*/15), or a combination. A step anchors at the start of its range, so */15 in the minute field means minutes 0, 15, 30, and 45, while 3-59/15 means 3, 18, 33, and 48.
Special strings
Instead of five fields you can use one of these shortcuts:
| String | Equivalent | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| @yearly | 0 0 1 1 * | Once a year at midnight on January 1 |
| @monthly | 0 0 1 * * | Once a month at midnight on the 1st |
| @weekly | 0 0 * * 0 | Once a week at midnight on Sunday |
| @daily | 0 0 * * * | Once a day at midnight |
| @hourly | 0 * * * * | Once an hour at minute 0 |
| @reboot | none | Runs once when the system boots |
Because @reboot has no time fields, the tool explains it but does not list upcoming runs.
Day of month and day of week
These two fields interact in a way that surprises many people. When you restrict both of them, cron runs the job when either field matches, not only when both match. So 0 0 13 * 5 runs at midnight on the 13th of every month and on every Friday, not only on Friday the 13th. When one of the two fields is *, only the other one applies. For a full walkthrough of crontab syntax, see scheduling cron jobs with crontab
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The next-run times use your browser’s timezone. Cron on a server runs in the system timezone, which is often UTC, so confirm the target zone before you rely on a schedule. This version supports the standard five-field syntax; the six-field (seconds) form and Quartz extensions such as L, W, and # are out of scope.