Mr Calcu | Quickly build reliable cron schedules and automate your tasks with confidence—no syntax memorization needed.

Effortlessly create and customize cron expressions with our intuitive tool. Simplify scheduling tasks and feel confident automating your workflows today.

Cron Expression Generator

Minute

Hour

Day of Month

Month

Day of Week

Year (optional)

Cron Expression Generator Guidelines

Getting started is easy—just follow these simple steps:

Steps to Generate a Cron Expression

Choose your minute (0–59)
Select an hour (0–23)
Define a day of month (1–31)
Pick the month (1–12)
Set the day of week (0–7; Sunday=0 or 7)

Best Practices

Avoid specifying both day-of-month and day-of-week unless intended
Test your expression in a controlled environment
Account for time zones and daylight saving changes
Use locking or queuing mechanisms if jobs might overlap

Cron Expression Generator Description

What is a Cron Expression?

A cron expression is a time-based notation used to define recurring job schedules in Unix-like operating systems and modern automation platforms.

Cron Field Structure

Format: 
 ┌───────────── minute (0 - 59)
 │ ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23)
 │ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1 - 31)
 │ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12)
 │ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday=0 or 7)
 │ │ │ │ │
 * * * * *  command-to-be-executed

Common Uses

Automating backups and log rotations
Triggering periodic reports or data pipelines
Running maintenance scripts during off-peak hours

Pro Tip: Use an asterisk (*) to match all possible values in a field—for example, * * * * * means "run every minute."

How to Use This Tool

Select values for each field: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week
The tool instantly generates a valid cron expression
Copy the result for use in scripts or scheduling tools

Important Edge Cases

Day-of-Month vs. Day-of-Week: If both are specified (non-‘*’), the job runs when either field matches
Leap Years: Use 0 0 29 2 * to target February 29; it will only run in leap years
Daylight Saving: Times like 2:30 AM may not exist in DST transitions and may skip execution
Invalid Ranges: Cron expressions like 70 25 * * * are invalid and may be ignored or cause errors
Overlapping Jobs: Use external locking to prevent concurrent executions when jobs run longer than scheduled intervals

Real-World Use Cases

Case 1: Weekly Log Rotation

Objective: Rotate server logs every Sunday at 2:00 AM

Cron Expression: 0 2 * * 0

This ensures minimal system load during off-peak hours.

Case 2: Stock Market Snapshot

Objective: Archive daily closing stock prices at 4:05 PM on weekdays

Cron Expression: 5 16 * * 1-5

Captures financial data post-trading each business day.

Start building smarter schedules now—generate your cron expression in seconds and automate with clarity.

Example Calculation

Cron Expression	Description
`0 0 * * *`	Runs at midnight every day
`0 8-17 * * 1-5`	Runs hourly from 8 AM to 5 PM on weekdays
`30 6 1 * *`	Runs at 6:30 AM on the first day of every month
`15 14 1 * *`	Runs at 2:15 PM on the 1st of every month
`0 0 29 2 *`	Runs only on February 29 (leap years)
`/15 9-17 * *`	Runs every 15 minutes between 9 AM and 5 PM daily
`0 0 * * 1,3,5`	Runs at midnight on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
`0 0 13 * 5`	Runs only when the 13th of the month is a Friday (Friday the 13th)

Frequently Asked Questions

A cron expression is a string representing a schedule for executing commands at regular intervals.

Select your desired schedule parameters and the tool will generate the cron expression.

The command will run when either field matches the current date. This behavior often causes confusion and should be planned carefully.

Yes. For example, '*/15' in the minute field means every 15 minutes, and '1-5' in the weekday field means Monday to Friday.

No. The sixth 'year' field is not standard and is only supported by some extended cron parsers like Quartz.

Use locking mechanisms, check job completion before scheduling the next, or configure 'non-concurrent' flags in advanced schedulers.

Standard cron does not support scheduling by the second. For second-level precision, use alternative schedulers like Quartz or systemd timers.

Mr Calcu | Quickly build reliable cron schedules and automate your tasks with confidence—no syntax memorization needed.

Cron Expression Generator

Cron Expression Generator Guidelines

Steps to Generate a Cron Expression

Best Practices

Cron Expression Generator Description

What is a Cron Expression?

Cron Field Structure

Common Uses

How to Use This Tool

Important Edge Cases

Real-World Use Cases

Case 1: Weekly Log Rotation

Case 2: Stock Market Snapshot

Example Calculation

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a cron expression?

How do I use this tool?

What happens if both day-of-month and day-of-week are specified?

Can I specify ranges or step values?

Is the sixth (year) field always supported?

How can I prevent overlapping executions?

Can I use cron to run a job every second?

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