What does @daily mean?

It is a shorthand for 0 0 * * *, midnight every day. @hourly, @weekly, @monthly and @yearly are also supported.

Does this work for GitHub Actions or Kubernetes CronJobs?

Yes, both use the five-field syntax. GitHub Actions runs schedules in UTC.

Can I paste a line straight from a crontab?

Yes. The five time fields set the schedule and everything after them is the command, shown under What cron runs. A % ends the command: cron does not run the text after it, and passes that text to the command as input. Comment lines and NAME=value lines are listed under Ignored.

Cron expression explainer

Translate a five-field cron expression into a sentence and list the next run times.

Runs in your browser. Your input is not uploaded.

Cron expression or a crontab lineminute, hour, day of month, month, day of week, then the command

Every 15 minutes.

Loading the tool…

What it does

A cron expression has five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week. * means every value, , lists values, - gives a range and / a step. */15 * * * * means every 15 minutes.

The explainer turns the expression into a sentence and lists the next run times in your browser’s time zone. It follows standard (Vixie) cron rules. Pasting a whole crontab line is fine: the text after the five fields is the command, and it is shown separately.

How to use it

Paste an expression, a preset, or a crontab line such as 0 2 * * * /usr/bin/backup.sh.
Read the sentence and the next run times.
Check what cron will run, and the lines it skips.

Example

Input

0 9 * * 1-5

Output

At 09:00, on weekdays (Monday to Friday).

Things to watch for

When both day of month and day of week are set, cron runs when either matches, not both. 0 0 1 * 1 runs on the 1st and on every Monday.
The server’s time zone decides when jobs run. The next runs here are in your browser’s zone, which may differ.
Six or seven time fields, ?, L, W and # are Quartz or Spring syntax, not crontab. Text after five fields is a command, not another field.
In /etc/crontab the word after the five fields is the account, and cron does not run it. In a user’s own crontab that word is the start of the command.

Guides

Cron syntax: the five fields explained

Questions

What does */5 mean?: Every fifth value starting from the lowest: minutes 0, 5, 10 and so on.
Is Sunday 0 or 7?: Both. Standard cron accepts either.
What does @daily mean?: It is a shorthand for 0 0 * * *, midnight every day. @hourly, @weekly, @monthly and @yearly are also supported.
Does this work for GitHub Actions or Kubernetes CronJobs?: Yes, both use the five-field syntax. GitHub Actions runs schedules in UTC.
Can I paste a line straight from a crontab?: Yes. The five time fields set the schedule and everything after them is the command, shown under What cron runs. A % ends the command: cron does not run the text after it, and passes that text to the command as input. Comment lines and NAME=value lines are listed under Ignored.