Crontab Explainer
Understand cron expressions in plain, human-readable English.
Looking for a ready-made schedule? Browse the cron expression examples — every 5 minutes, hourly, nightly, weekdays, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string representing a schedule in time. It is used by the cron utility to schedule jobs to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals.
What do the 5 fields represent?
The standard fields, in order, are: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6, where 0 is Sunday).
What happens when both day-of-month and day-of-week are set?
Standard cron treats them as an OR: the job runs when either field matches. For example, 0 0 1 * MON runs on the 1st of the month and on every Monday.