cron expression
How to explain a cron expression
Cron schedules jobs with five fields: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. Characters like * / - , build patterns.
Open Cron Expression Explainer
Field order
Example: */15 9-17 * * 1-5 = every 15 minutes, 09:00–17:00, Mon–Fri. Day-of-month and day-of-week interact—test before deploy.
Next runs
Paste the expression into the LedaTools explainer to see local times and catch timezone mistakes.
5 vs 6 fields
Some systems add seconds. LedaTools focuses on classic 5-field crontab.
UTC vs local
Kubernetes and many CI systems use UTC. Confirm the scheduler zone before setting business hours.
Useful patterns
0 * * * * (hourly), 0 0 * * 0 (Sundays midnight), 30 2 1 * * (1st of month 02:30).
FAQ
What format?
Classic 5-field cron.
Timezone?
Browser local time.
6 fields?
This tool uses the 5-field format.