Cron Expression Parser

import cronstrue from 'cronstrue';

// Parse cron to human-readable text
cronstrue.toString('0 9 * * 1-5');
// → "At 09:00 AM, Monday through Friday"

cronstrue.toString('*/15 * * * *');
// → "Every 15 minutes"

// Validate with cron-parser and get next run times
import { parseExpression } from 'cron-parser';

const interval = parseExpression('30 2 * * 0');
console.log(interval.next().toISOString());
// → next Sunday at 02:30 UTC

// Iterate over the next 5 runs
for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
  console.log(interval.next().toString());
}

from crontab import CronTab
from croniter import croniter
from datetime import datetime

# Parse and describe a cron expression
cron = CronTab('0 9 * * 1-5')
print(cron.next(default_utc=True))
# → seconds until next run

# Get the next 5 run times with croniter
base = datetime.now()
cron_iter = croniter('0 9 * * 1-5', base)
for _ in range(5):
    print(cron_iter.get_next(datetime))
# → next 5 weekday 09:00 timestamps

# Check if a specific time matches
print(croniter.match('*/15 * * * *', datetime(2026, 3, 25, 10, 30)))
# → True (minute 30 is divisible by 15)

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "time"
    "github.com/robfig/cron/v3"
)

func main() {
    // Parse a standard 5-field cron expression
    parser := cron.NewParser(cron.Minute | cron.Hour | cron.Dom | cron.Month | cron.Dow)
    schedule, err := parser.Parse("0 9 * * 1-5")
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    // Calculate the next 5 run times
    now := time.Now()
    for i := 0; i < 5; i++ {
        now = schedule.Next(now)
        fmt.Println(now)
    }
    // → next 5 weekday 09:00 timestamps
}

# List current user's cron jobs
crontab -l

# Edit cron jobs interactively
crontab -e

# Add a job: run backup.sh every day at 2:30 AM
# (append to crontab via pipe)
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "30 2 * * * /home/user/backup.sh") | crontab -

# Check syntax with a dry-run parse (requires cronie or busybox)
# The system will reject invalid expressions when saving

# View cron logs on systemd-based Linux
journalctl -u cron --since "1 hour ago"