Cron Expression Generator & Validator
Type a cron expression or pick a preset to validate it, read a plain-English explanation, and preview the next five run times in your local timezone. Works with standard 5-field cron used by Linux crontab, pg_cron, MySQL events, Kubernetes CronJobs, Jenkins and Spring. Runs fully in your browser.
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How to use
- Pick a preset schedule or type a 5-field cron expression (minute, hour, day, month, weekday).
- Click Explain to validate the syntax and see what the schedule means in plain English.
- Check the next 5 computed run times to confirm the schedule does what you expect.
Frequently asked questions
What do the 5 fields in a cron expression mean?
From left to right: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12 or JAN-DEC), and day of week (0-6 where 0 is Sunday, or SUN-SAT). Each field accepts * (any), lists (1,15), ranges (1-5) and steps (*/5).
How do I write a cron expression for every 5 minutes?
Use */5 * * * *. The */5 in the minute field means every value divisible by 5 (0, 5, 10, ...), and the four asterisks mean every hour, day, month and weekday. The same pattern gives you every 10 minutes (*/10) or every 30 minutes (*/30).
Can I schedule SQL jobs with cron?
Yes. PostgreSQL's pg_cron extension and MySQL's event scheduler both run SQL on cron-style schedules — common for nightly backups, partition rotation and materialized view refreshes. Chat2DB, a free AI SQL client, makes it easy to write and test those scheduled queries before you automate them.
