Question 1

What is a cron expression?

Accepted Answer

A cron expression is a string of five fields separated by spaces that define a schedule for automated tasks. The fields represent minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-7, where both 0 and 7 represent Sunday). Cron expressions are used in Unix-like systems, Linux servers, and many programming languages to schedule recurring tasks.

Question 2

How do I read a cron expression?

Accepted Answer

Cron expressions are read from left to right: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week. For example, "0 9 * * 1-5" means "at 9:00 AM (0 minutes, 9 hours), every day of the month (*), every month (*), Monday through Friday (1-5)". Our tool provides plain English translations to help you understand any cron expression.

Question 3

What do the special characters mean in cron?

Accepted Answer

Asterisk (*) means "every" or "any value". Comma (,) separates multiple values (e.g., "1,15" for 1st and 15th). Hyphen (-) defines ranges (e.g., "1-5" for Monday through Friday). Slash (/) specifies step values or intervals (e.g., "*/5" for every 5 units). These characters can be combined to create complex schedules.

Question 4

Can I use cron expressions in my application?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Cron expressions are supported in many environments: Unix/Linux cron daemon (crontab), Node.js (node-cron, cron), Python (APScheduler, schedule), Java (Quartz Scheduler), Spring Framework (@Scheduled), Kubernetes CronJobs, AWS CloudWatch Events, and most CI/CD platforms. Check your platform's documentation for specific syntax variations.

Question 5

What does "*/5 * * * *" mean?

Accepted Answer

"*/5 * * * *" means "every 5 minutes". The "*/5" in the minute field creates a step value - the task runs when the minute is divisible by 5 (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55). This is one of the most common cron patterns for regular interval tasks.

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