cron-expr-cli

Parse, explain, and generate cron expressions from the command line.

Install

npm install -g cron-expr-cli

Usage

Explain a cron expression

cron-expr-cli explain "*/5 * * * *"
# => Every 5 minutes

cron-expr-cli explain "0 9 * * 1-5"
# => At 09:00 on Monday through Friday

Show next run times

cron-expr-cli next "0 9 * * 1-5" -n 5
# Shows the next 5 scheduled execution times

Validate an expression

cron-expr-cli validate "0 12 * * *"
# => Valid cron expression

cron-expr-cli validate "60 * * * *"
# => Invalid (minute out of range)

List common presets

cron-expr-cli presets
# Shows presets like every-minute, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

Generate from natural language

cron-expr-cli generate "every 5 minutes"
# => */5 * * * *

cron-expr-cli generate "every weekday at 09:00"
# => 0 9 * * 1-5

cron-expr-cli generate "every monday at 10:00"
# => 0 10 * * 1

Supported natural language patterns:

• every N minutes / every N hours / every N days
• every day at HH:MM / every day at H am/pm
• every weekday at HH:MM
• every monday at HH:MM (any day name)
• daily / weekly / monthly / yearly
• twice a day

Cron Field Reference

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6, Sun=0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Supported syntax

| Symbol | Meaning | Example | |--------|----------------------|------------| | * | Any value | * * * * * | | , | List | 1,3,5 | | - | Range | 1-5 | | / | Step | */5 | | L | Last | L (day) | | W | Nearest weekday | 15W | | # | Nth weekday of month | 1#3 (3rd Mon) |

License

MIT