Converter · SOTA 5/6 field + next 10 fires
Cron Expression Builder & Parser
Build and parse cron expressions with a visual editor. Supports 5-field Unix crontab and 6-field Quartz / AWS EventBridge formats. Live next-10-runs preview in any IANA timezone with human-readable translation.
How to Use Cron Expression Builder in 3 Steps
- Configure. Edit each cron field visually (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week, optional seconds for Quartz/EventBridge). Each field offers wildcards, ranges, step values, and named shortcuts (MON, JAN).
- Process. Pick format (5-field Unix crontab or 6-field Quartz/AWS EventBridge) and timezone (any IANA zone like America/New_York or Europe/Istanbul).
- Export. Preview the next 10 fire times with relative countdown, plus plain-English translation. Copy the expression, or export YAML for GitHub Actions / k8s CronJob.
Why Cron Expression Builder on Pixlane
Cron expressions schedule tasks — deployments, backups, emails, CI jobs. A wrong character means jobs fire at the wrong time or never. Pixlane's builder is a visual slot-by-slot editor (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week, optional seconds) with plain-English translation (`Every Monday at 9:00 AM`) and a live preview of the next 10 fire times in your chosen timezone.
- 5 + 6 Field Formats — Unix crontab (5-field minute..day-of-week) and Quartz 6-field (prepends seconds, used by AWS EventBridge, Spring, Jenkins). Toggle at any time.
- Next-10 Preview — Live preview of the upcoming 10 fire times with countdown — catches misconfigurations instantly (e.g., Feb 31 never fires, @reboot only on startup).
- Plain-English Parser — Every expression is translated to natural language: `0 9 * * 1-5` → 'At 09:00 AM on weekdays'. Catches common errors like misreading `,` vs `-`.
- IANA Timezones — Uses `Intl.supportedValuesOf('timeZone')` for 400+ IANA zones. Accurate DST handling — jobs scheduled for 2:30 AM survive daylight-saving transitions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between 5-field and 6-field cron?
Unix crontab uses 5 fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week). Quartz and AWS EventBridge add a 6th field (seconds at position 0). Always check which your scheduler expects — a 5-field expression pasted into a 6-field system fires unpredictably.
Why does day-of-month + day-of-week act weird?
In most cron implementations, specifying both day-of-month AND day-of-week uses OR logic (fires if either matches), not AND. To fire only on the 1st if it's a Monday, you need a separate job or guard in your script.
Is my expression private?
Yes. Parsing and next-fire calculation happen locally in your browser — no network calls, no tracking.
Is this tool free?
Yes. Cron Expression Builder on Pixlane is completely free with no signup required.