Online Tool Store
Cron to Human Sentence
Paste a 5-field cron expression and get an instant plain-English sentence explaining when it runs, plus a labeled breakdown of every field.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.
Standard 5-field format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
How the Cron to Human Sentence tool works
- Type or paste a standard 5-field cron expression.
- The tool splits it into minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week fields and validates each one.
- A plain-English sentence is generated instantly, along with a breakdown of each individual field.
Reading the cron syntax
An asterisk (*) means "every" value in that field. A slash (*/15) means "every N units." A hyphen (9-17) means an inclusive range. Commas (1,3,5) list specific values. Combining day-of-month and day-of-week in the same expression is technically an OR in real cron — this tool notes that case explicitly rather than silently picking one.
FAQ
What cron format does this expect?
The standard 5-field Unix cron format: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week, separated by spaces. It does not currently support 6-field expressions that add a seconds field, like some Quartz or Spring schedulers use.
Does it support step values and ranges?
Yes — asterisks (*), step values (*/15), ranges (9-17), and comma-separated lists (1,3,5) are all recognized in each field and translated into the plain-English sentence.
Is this reading my server or crontab?
No. You paste the expression yourself and everything is parsed with JavaScript in your browser — nothing is read from or sent to any server or scheduler.
How we compare
| Feature | Online Tool Store | man 5 crontab | Mental math |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain-English sentence | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Instant, no lookup | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
For an unusual or ambiguous expression, always test it against your actual scheduler before relying on the generated sentence.