Spring Cron Formatter
Format and validate Spring cron expressions (6-field, optional year). Normalize spacing, auto-add seconds for 5-field crons, and get a compact field-by-field explanation.
sec min hour dom month dow), optional 7th (year). Example: 0 0/5 * * * ?How to use
Use it in seconds:
- Paste your cron into the input (Spring usually uses 6 fields:
sec min hour dom month dow). - Pick options (auto-add seconds for 5-field crons, uppercase names, output style).
- Click Format and copy the normalized result.
FAQ
How many fields does a Spring cron expression use?
Spring commonly uses 6 fields: second minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. Some setups also accept an optional 7th year field.
What does the question mark (?) mean in Spring cron?
? means “no specific value” and is typically used in either day-of-month or day-of-week to avoid conflicts.
Can I paste a normal 5-field Linux cron here?
Yes—enable “Auto-add seconds” and it will prepend 0 as the seconds field to produce a Spring-style cron.
Does this tool calculate next run times?
No. It formats, validates, and explains the expression without doing heavy scheduling simulation.
Are month/day names supported (JAN, MON-FRI)?
Yes. Turn on “Uppercase month/day names” to normalize tokens like jan → JAN and mon-fri → MON-FRI.
Why do I see both * and ? used in examples?
* means “every value”, while ? means “not specified”. In many Spring/Quartz-style crons, ? is used in either DOM or DOW.
Will this tool reject all invalid cron expressions?
It checks field count and flags invalid characters, but it stays permissive on complex cron semantics. Always validate against your runtime (Spring version / scheduler) before deploying.
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