Cron Expression Builder

Q: What do the 5 fields in a cron expression mean?

In order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where both 0 and 7 mean Sunday). Each field can be a wildcard (*), a specific value, a range (1-5), a step (*/15), or a comma-separated list.

Q: What happens when both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted?

Standard cron uses OR logic in that case: the job runs when either the day-of-month OR the day-of-week condition matches, not only when both match. This is a common source of confusion, so this tool spells it out explicitly in the explanation.

Q: Why does this tool reject some cron expressions?

This builder supports standard 5-field cron only. Expressions using Quartz or AWS EventBridge extensions — a 6th/7th field, or the L, W, #, and ? characters — mean something different in those dialects and would be silently miscomputed if treated as standard cron, so they're rejected with an explicit error instead.

Q: Does the next-run calculation account for daylight saving time?

Yes. Next run times are computed against wall-clock time in the timezone you select, using that timezone's actual UTC offset (including DST transitions) rather than a fixed offset.

Build a standard 5-field cron expression (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week), see it explained in plain English, and preview the next 5 run times in any timezone. Quartz/AWS EventBridge syntax (6-7 fields, L/W/#/?) is rejected explicitly rather than miscomputed.

Raw cron expression

Minute

0-59

Hour

0-23

Day (month)

1-31

Month

1-12 or JAN-DEC

Day (week)

0-6 (0=Sun) or SUN-SAT

Plain-English explanation

Runs every 5 minutes, every day.

Timezone for next run times

Next 5 run times (UTC)

Calculating next run times…

Standard 5-field cron only

0 and 7 both mean Sunday

Day-of-month/day-of-week use OR logic when both are restricted

Common cron expression examples

These are standard five-field cron expressions: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week.

Weekdays at 9:00

0 9 * * 1-5

Runs at 09:00 in the scheduler's configured timezone, Monday through Friday.

Every 15 minutes

*/15 * * * *

Runs at minute 0, 15, 30, and 45 of every hour.

Leap day at midnight

0 0 29 2 *

Runs only when February 29 exists; sparse schedules need a long search window.

Common mistakes

Assuming the server uses your local timezone.
Pasting six-field Quartz syntax into a five-field cron parser.
Expecting day-of-month and day-of-week restrictions to always use AND logic.

Cron expression examples and edge cases Browse all developer tools

Examples and guidance reviewed July 19, 2026.

Cron Expression Builder

Common cron expression examples

Common mistakes

FAQ

What do the 5 fields in a cron expression mean?

What happens when both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted?

Why does this tool reject some cron expressions?

Does the next-run calculation account for daylight saving time?