Crontab Generator

Build cron expressions visually — see a plain-English description and the next 5 scheduled run times.

0–59

0–23

1–31

1–12

0–6 (Sun=0)

Syntax: * = any  |  */n = every n  |  a-b = range  |  a,b = list

Human-readable schedule

Every weekday (Mon–Fri) at 9:00 AM

Next 5 scheduled runs

  1. Mon, Mar 2, 2026, 09:00 AM
  2. Tue, Mar 3, 2026, 09:00 AM
  3. Wed, Mar 4, 2026, 09:00 AM
  4. Thu, Mar 5, 2026, 09:00 AM
  5. Fri, Mar 6, 2026, 09:00 AM

About the Crontab Generator

The Crontab Generator builds and validates cron expressions with instant visual feedback. Enter an expression manually or click a preset, and the tool shows a plain-English description of the schedule and the next 5 exact run times. Edit any of the 5 individual fields — minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week — and the expression updates automatically.

Cron is the standard Unix job scheduler. A cron expression is a string of 5 space-separated fields that define when a job runs. Each field accepts: * (any value), */n (every n units), a-b (a range), or a,b,c (a list). For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 means “at 9:00 AM, Monday through Friday.” Cron expressions appear in crontab files, Kubernetes CronJobs, GitHub Actions schedules, AWS EventBridge rules, and CI/CD pipelines.

All calculation runs entirely in your browser — no expression is sent to any server. The next-run previews use your local system clock and timezone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the 5 cron fields represent?

Left to right: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), day of week (0–6, where 0 = Sunday). A * in any field means “every valid value for that field.”

What does */5 mean?

*/5 means “every 5 units.” In the minute field, */5 means every 5 minutes (0, 5, 10, 15…). In the hour field, */2 means every 2 hours (0, 2, 4, 6…).

How do I run a job every weekday?

Use 1-5 in the day-of-week field. For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 runs at 9:00 AM Monday through Friday. Day 0 = Sunday, 1 = Monday, …, 6 = Saturday.

What is the difference between day-of-month and day-of-week?

If both are set to non-wildcard values, most cron implementations run the job when either condition is true (OR logic). To avoid confusion, set one to * and only specify the other.

How do I use cron in GitHub Actions?

In your workflow YAML, use the schedule trigger with a cron key: on: { schedule: [{ cron: '0 9 * * 1-5' }] }. Note that GitHub Actions cron schedules are in UTC and the minimum interval is every 5 minutes.