Question 1

What is a cron expression?

Accepted Answer

A cron expression is a string of 5 or 6 fields separated by spaces that represents a schedule. It's used in Unix/Linux systems and many programming frameworks to schedule recurring tasks.

Question 2

What are the 5 cron fields?

Accepted Answer

The 5 fields are: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where 0=Sunday).

Question 3

What does * mean in cron?

Accepted Answer

An asterisk (*) means 'every' — every minute, every hour, every day, etc. For example, '* * * * *' means every minute.

Question 4

How do I run a cron every 5 minutes?

Accepted Answer

Use '*/5 * * * *' which means every 5th minute of every hour.

Question 5

What is the 6th field in cron?

Accepted Answer

The optional 6th field is seconds (0-59), used by some systems like Quartz scheduler. The standard Linux cron uses 5 fields.

Question 6

Does this tool calculate next run times?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it shows the next 10 scheduled execution times based on your cron expression and current time.

Question 7

What does */2 mean?

Accepted Answer

*/2 means 'every 2nd'. In the minute field, */2 means minutes 0, 2, 4, 6, etc.

Question 8

Is this cron parser free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, completely free. No registration or limits.

Cron Expression Parser

Human-Readable Description

⏰ Next 10 Execution Times

Cron Expression Parser

Human-Readable Description

⏰ Next 10 Execution Times

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