What does this cron expression mean?
Paste any cron expression to see a plain-English description and the next 10 times it will run. Supports both 5-field Unix and 6-field Quartz / .NET formats.
Every 5 minutes
Field reference (5 fields)
| Position | Field | Allowed values |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | minute | 0–59 |
| 2 | hour | 0–23 |
| 3 | day of month | 1–31 |
| 4 | month | 1–12 or JAN–DEC |
| 5 | day of week | 0–6 or SUN–SAT |
Common patterns
https://clockmath.rainofstars.app/cron?e=*%2F5+*+*+*+*Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between 5-field and 6-field cron?
Standard Unix cron uses 5 fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week. Quartz (used by .NET, Hangfire, Spring) prepends a seconds field for 6 fields. This explainer auto-detects by counting whitespace-separated tokens.
Are special expressions like @daily supported?
Yes. The standard nicknames @yearly (@annually), @monthly, @weekly, @daily (@midnight), and @hourly all work. @reboot is parsed but has no scheduled runs because it isn't time-based.
Which timezone are the next runs shown in?
Your device's local timezone. The expression itself is timezone-agnostic — it always matches wall-clock time wherever it runs.
Does this support special characters like L, W, and #?
Yes for description (L = last, W = nearest weekday, # = nth weekday of month). Some scheduler libraries differ on edge cases, so always test in your target system after copying.
Why does my expression error out?
Most often, it's a typo or an out-of-range value (e.g. hour 24 instead of 23, or weekday 7 in 0–6 systems). Check the field reference for the allowed ranges, and verify field order matches your runtime.
Related tools
- Time Between Two Dates — measure the gap between any two dates
- World Clock — current time across multiple cities