Tools

Cron expression explainer

Paste a five-field cron line and read it in plain English in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

Five-field Unix crontab (minute hour day month weekday).

How to use the Cron expression explainer

  1. Paste a line such as */15 9-17 * * 1-5, or a special string like @hourly.
  2. Click Explain.
  3. Read the summary, then edit on the generator if you need a different schedule.

What it reads

Minute 0–59, hour 0–23, day 1–31, month 1–12 or JAN–DEC, weekday 0–7 or SUN–SAT (7 means Sunday). Steps and lists work. A sixth seconds field is rejected so you do not silently drop it. @yearly / @monthly / @weekly / @daily / @hourly map to the usual five fields; @reboot is called out as a boot hook.

Nothing is uploaded

Parsing is local.

Cron expression explainer FAQ

Will this match systemd?

No. systemd uses OnCalendar= syntax.

Day and weekday both set?

The note explains the common OR behavior. Confirm on your daemon.

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