How do I write a cron expression for every 5 minutes?

Use */5 * * * * — the */5 in the minute field means 'every 5th minute'.

What does 0 8 * * * mean?

It runs once a day at 08:00 (8:00 AM): minute 0, hour 8, every day of month, every month, every day of week.

What are the five cron fields?

minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), day of week (0-6, Sunday=0).

Cron Expression Generator & Explainer

Type a schedule to decode it, or tap a preset. Plain English + the next run times — instantly, in your browser. No signup.

Cron expression (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week)

minute
0-59

hour
0-23

day (month)
1-31

month
1-12

day (week)
0-6

Next 5 run times

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Cron syntax in 30 seconds

Field	Values	Special
Minute	0–59	`` any · `/n` every n · `a-b` range · `a,b,c` list
Hour	0–23
Day of month	1–31
Month	1–12 (or JAN–DEC)
Day of week	0–6 (Sun=0, or SUN–SAT)

Common examples

Expression	Meaning
`/5 * * *`	Every 5 minutes
`0 * * * *`	Every hour, on the hour
`0 8 * * *`	Every day at 08:00
`0 8,20 * * *`	Every day at 08:00 and 20:00
`0 9 * * 1-5`	09:00 on weekdays (Mon–Fri)
`30 3 1 * *`	03:30 on the 1st of every month
`@daily`	Once a day at midnight (shorthand)

Note: most cron systems (including GitHub Actions) run in UTC. The next-run times above are shown in your local timezone for convenience — mind the offset when you paste into a server crontab.