Crontab Translator — Cron Expression to Plain English Online
Translate a cron expression to plain English and preview the next 5 fire times. Supports standard 5-field and 6-field with seconds.
Plain English
Fix the expression to see the description.
Field order
minute · hour · day-of-month · month · day-of-week
second · minute · hour · day-of-month · month · day-of-week
Next 5 fire times
No matches within the next year.
How to use
- 1 Type or paste a cron expression. The English translation and the next 5 fire times update as you type.
- 2 Use the 6-field toggle if your scheduler supports seconds (Spring, Quartz, Nest schedules).
- 3 Click any next-fire-time to copy it — useful for ticket tracker comments.
Why use this tool
- Pure browser parser, no third-party "cronstrue" dependency or remote calls.
- Standard 5-field plus optional 6-field with seconds — covers Vixie cron, Quartz, and Nest schedules.
- Validates the expression inline — typos surface before you deploy.
- Day-of-month and day-of-week follow the classic Vixie OR semantics when both restricted.
Frequently asked questions
What does 0 9 * * 1-5 mean?
At 09:00 on Monday through Friday (weekdays).
Does this support @hourly / @daily aliases?
Not yet — expand them yourself: @hourly = 0 * * * *, @daily = 0 0 * * *, @weekly = 0 0 * * 0, @monthly = 0 0 1 * *, @yearly = 0 0 1 1 *.
Why are fire times shown in my local zone?
The browser does not know what server timezone your cron runs in. Convert with our Timezone Converter if your scheduler runs in UTC.
What about L (last) and W (weekday) modifiers?
Those are Quartz extensions. The parser does not support them yet — file a request and we will add them.
What is Crontab Translator?
A Crontab Translator (also called a cron expression decoder) is a tool that converts a 5-field or 6-field cron schedule into a plain-English description like "Every weekday at 03:30" and computes the next firing times. It catches off-by-one mistakes — accidentally scheduling at 0 instead of every hour — before the cron rule ever reaches a production scheduler.
How Crontab Translator compares to alternatives
| Feature | Zerethon Tools | Typical online tools | Desktop apps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-field (standard) syntax | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 6-field (with seconds) | Yes | Sometimes | Yes |
| Next-fire-time preview | Next 5 | Next 1–3 | Yes |
| Plain-English explanation | Yes | Yes | Sometimes |
| Free | Yes | Yes (with ads) | Free (IDE plugins) |
Crontab Translator is a free developer utility by Zerethon Tools. Translate a cron expression to plain English and preview the next 5 fire times. Supports standard 5-field and 6-field with seconds. Runs entirely in the browser — no signup, no upload.
- Category
- Developer
- Pricing
- Free
- Privacy
- Browser-based
- Signup
- Not required
Privacy
Your data never leaves your browser unless explicitly stated. Crontab Translator runs entirely client-side — no server upload, no logging, no tracking of your input.
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