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Cron explainer

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Input

Cron expression

Unix: 5 fields. Quartz: 6 or 7 fields, with an optional leading seconds field. Macros such as @daily also work.

Flavor

Auto Unix 5-field Quartz 6/7-field

Time zone

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Start from (your local time)

Blank means the current time.

Examples

Updates as you type. Ctrl+Enter also refreshes.

Explanation

Type a cron expression, or pick an example, to see what it means and when it runs.

Fields

Fields parsed from the expression
Field	Token	Status

Paste a cron expression. The explanation, the next runs and the conversion update as you type.

Seconds are implied as 0. When both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted, Unix runs when either one matches.

Quartz needs ? in exactly one of day-of-month and day-of-week.

Char	Meaning	Example
`*`	Every value in the field	`*/15` every 15 units
`,`	List of values	`1,15`
`-`	Range	`9-17`
`/`	Step	`0/10` from 0, every 10
`?`	No specific value (Quartz day fields only)	`0 0 2 * * ?`
`L`	Last day of month, or last weekday of the month	`L`, `6L` (last Friday)
`W`	Nearest weekday to a day	`15W`
`#`	Nth weekday of the month	`2#2` (second Monday)

Day-of-week numbers differ. Quartz uses 1-7 with 1 = Sunday. Unix uses 0-6, or 7 for Sunday.

Times are computed in the zone you pick. Clock changes: a time that does not exist is skipped, and an ambiguous time is shown once.

Start from uses your local clock. Blank means now.