Simple Cron Schedule Preview Calculator
Preview the next run times of a simple cron-like schedule — daily, weekdays, weekly or monthly — at a set hour.
How it works
runs = days matching the schedule (daily / Mon–Fri / a weekday / a day-of-month) at the chosen hour, from now forward
Cron expressions are powerful but hard to read at a glance, so it helps to preview the actual dates a schedule will fire. This calculator covers the four most common patterns — every day, weekdays only, a specific weekday, or a day-of-month — at a fixed hour, and lists the upcoming run times. It also prints the equivalent five-field cron string so you can drop it straight into a scheduler. Today’s run is dropped if its hour has already passed, matching how a scheduler behaves.
Worked example
A weekdays-at-09:00 schedule (cron 0 9 * * 1-5) previewed mid-week lists the next five weekday mornings at 9:00 AM, skipping the coming Saturday and Sunday.
Frequently asked questions
How do the cron fields map to my schedule?
The five fields are minute, hour, day-of-month, month and day-of-week. "Every day" is * * *, weekdays is day-of-week 1-5, a weekly run sets the single weekday, and a monthly run sets the day-of-month with * for month and day-of-week.
What happens on a monthly run set to the 31st?
It clamps to the last day of shorter months, so a 31st schedule fires on the 30th in April and the 28th or 29th in February. Real cron would instead skip those months, so treat this as a friendlier preview.
Why is today sometimes missing from the list?
If today matches the schedule but the run hour has already passed, the next fire is the following matching day — the preview reflects that, just like a live scheduler would.
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This calculator is for educational purposes. Double-check important results before acting on them.