ToolStop
Definition

What is Cron?

Cron is a Unix scheduler that runs commands on a recurring timetable — every minute, every Monday at 6 AM, the first of every month, and so on.

Also called: cron expression · cron job · scheduled job

A cron expression has five fields — minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week — separated by spaces. '0 9 * * 1' means '09:00 every Monday'. '*/15 * * * *' means 'every 15 minutes'.

Cron powers backups, log rotation, scheduled emails, cache warmers, and countless SaaS 'run this webhook on a schedule' features. Most cloud platforms and databases (including Postgres via pg_cron) expose a cron-syntax scheduler.

The syntax is famously easy to mistype; use a generator to build the expression, then read it back in plain English before you deploy.

Try a tool that uses Cron

Cron Generator

Build and understand cron expressions with handy presets.

Timestamp Converter

Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates.

Time Zone Converter

Convert dates and times across major world time zones.

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