> Markdown version of https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression — the page itself is the canonical copy. Free tool # Cron expression explainer Paste a cron expression to see when it runs, in plain English, and its next 5 run times. It reads standard five-field crontab, the format Linux cron, Kubernetes CronJobs and GitHub Actions schedules use. Times are in UTC. ## `*/5 * * * *` Runs every 5 minutes, every day. - Oct 24, 2026, 20:25 UTC - Oct 24, 2026, 20:30 UTC - Oct 24, 2026, 20:35 UTC - Oct 24, 2026, 20:40 UTC - Oct 24, 2026, 20:45 UTC ## Common cron expressions __Common cron expressions and what they mean__ | Expression | Runs | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | [\* \* \* \* \*](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=%2A%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A) | every minute | | [\*/5 \* \* \* \*](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=%2A%2F5%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A) | every 5 minutes | | [0 \* \* \* \*](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=0%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A) | at the start of every hour | | [0 0 \* \* \*](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=0%200%20%2A%20%2A%20%2A) | every day at midnight | | [30 2 \* \* 1-5](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=30%202%20%2A%20%2A%201-5) | at 02:30 on weekdays | | [0 9 \* \* 1](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=0%209%20%2A%20%2A%201) | every Monday at 09:00 | | [0 0 1 \* \*](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=0%200%201%20%2A%20%2A) | at midnight on the first of every month | | [0 0 1 1 \*](https://getuptimely.com/tools/cron-expression?expr=0%200%201%201%20%2A) | once a year, at midnight on January 1 | ## Know when a cron job stops running A job that fails, or is never scheduled, makes no noise. With a [cron job monitor](https://getuptimely.com/features/cron-job-monitoring), the job pings Uptimely each time it finishes, and you are alerted when a ping does not arrive on schedule. [Monitor a cron job free →](https://app.getuptimely.com/accounts/register) ## From a script or an agent `curl "https://getuptimely.com/api/tools/cron?expr=0%209%20*%20*%201"` returns the explanation and the next runs as JSON, or as Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`. No API key. [API documentation](https://getuptimely.com/docs/free-tools-api). ### What are the five fields of a cron expression? In order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of the month (1-31), month (1-12 or JAN-DEC) and day of the week (0-7 or SUN-SAT, where both 0 and 7 mean Sunday). Each field takes a single value, a list such as 1,15, a range such as 1-5, a step such as \*/15, or \* for every value. ### How do I run a cron job every 5 minutes? Use \*/5 \* \* \* \*. The \*/5 in the minute field means every fifth minute starting from 0, so the job runs at :00, :05, :10 and so on, every hour of every day. ### What happens when I set both the day of month and the day of week? Cron runs the job on any day that matches either field, not only on days that match both. So 0 0 13 \* 5 runs at midnight on the 13th of every month and on every Friday, not only on Friday the 13th. ### Why does my expression have six fields? A leading seconds field (and the ?, L, W and # symbols) comes from Quartz and Spring schedulers. Standard cron, Kubernetes CronJobs and GitHub Actions use five fields with minute first. This tool reads the standard form. ### How do I know if my cron job stopped running? A cron job that fails silently, or stops being scheduled, produces no error anywhere. A heartbeat monitor fixes that: the job pings a URL each time it finishes, and Uptimely alerts you when a ping does not arrive on schedule.