What do the fields in a cron expression mean?
Six fields, in order: second (0-59), minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, 0=Sunday) — this is Quartz's 6-field form, not the 5-field Unix crontab syntax.
Cron Expression Parser
Cron expression
Six fields: second, minute, hour, day, month, and day of week.
Examples
EmptyQuartz 6-field
Schedule interpretation
The schedule explanation will appear here.
Not runsec min hour day month dow
Expression reference
Field reference
| # | Field | Range | Special syntax | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Second | 0–59 | * , - / | — |
| 2 | Minute | 0–59 | * , - / | — |
| 3 | Hour | 0–23 | * , - / | 24-hour format |
| 4 | Day of month | 1–31 | * , - / ? | "?" means "no specific value" — avoids conflicting with day-of-week in the same expression |
| 5 | Month | 1–12 | * , - /, plus names JAN–DEC | Names map 1:1 to 1–12 |
| 6 | Day of week | 0–7 | * , - / ?, plus names SUN–SAT | Both 0 and 7 mean Sunday (common cron alias) |
Syntax legend
| Syntax | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| * | Every value in the field's range | * * * * * * → every second |
| , | A list of specific values | 0,15,30,45 in the minute field → on the quarter-hour |
| - | An inclusive range | 9-17 in the hour field → 9am through 5pm |
| / | A step, usually after * or a range | */15 in the minute field → every 15 minutes |
| ? | "No specific value" (day-of-month or day-of-week only) | 0 0 0 * * ? → midnight every day, day-of-week unspecified |
About this Cron Expression Parser
Parse six-field cron expressions into a human-readable schedule.
This parser reads the six-field Quartz form — second, minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week — not the five-field Unix crontab form. Day of month and day of week accept ? to mean "no specific value", which is how you avoid the two fields contradicting each other.
FAQ
What happens if I set both day-of-month and day-of-week to real values?
Both must match — this parser requires day AND day-of-week when both are restricted, unlike traditional Unix cron, which ORs them. Set whichever field you don't care about to ? instead of a value to avoid over-restricting the schedule.
What does the * wildcard mean?
"Every possible value" for that field.
Does this support standard 5-field Unix cron, or just Quartz syntax?
Quartz's 6-field form only — second, minute, hour, day, month, day-of-week — not the 5-field Unix crontab form, and not Quartz's optional 7th (year) field either. If you have a standard 5-field crontab entry, prepend a 0 for seconds to use it here.
Does it support special characters like L, W, or #?
No — the field grammar accepts *, ? (day fields only), numbers, ranges (a-b), lists (a,b,c), and steps (a/n), but not Quartz's L (last), W (nearest weekday), or # (nth weekday of month) modifiers.
Is my cron expression sent anywhere?
No — parsing runs entirely in your browser.
Related tools