cron-parser

A JavaScript library for parsing and manipulating cron expressions. Features timezone support, DST handling, and iterator capabilities.

API documentation

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18
• TypeScript >= 5

Installation

npm install cron-parser

Cron Format

*    *    *    *    *    *
┬    ┬    ┬    ┬    ┬    ┬
│    │    │    │    │    │
│    │    │    │    │    └─ day of week (0-7, 1L-7L) (0 or 7 is Sun)
│    │    │    │    └────── month (1-12, JAN-DEC)
│    │    │    └─────────── day of month (1-31, L)
│    │    └──────────────── hour (0-23)
│    └───────────────────── minute (0-59)
└────────────────────────── second (0-59, optional)

Special Characters

| Character | Description | Example | | --------- | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | * | Any value | * * * * * (every minute) | | ? | Any value (alias for *) | ? * * * * (every minute) | | , | Value list separator | 1,2,3 * * * * (1st, 2nd, and 3rd minute) | | - | Range of values | 1-5 * * * * (every minute from 1 through 5) | | / | Step values | */5 * * * * (every 5th minute) | | L | Last day of month/week | 0 0 L * * (midnight on last day of month) | | # | Nth day of month | 0 0 * * 1#1 (first Monday of month) | | H | Randomized value | H * * * * (every n minute where n is randomly picked within [0, 59]) |

Predefined Expressions

| Expression | Description | Equivalent | | ----------- | ----------------------------------------- | --------------- | | @yearly | Once a year at midnight of January 1 | 0 0 0 1 1 * | | @monthly | Once a month at midnight of first day | 0 0 0 1 * * | | @weekly | Once a week at midnight on Sunday | 0 0 0 * * 0 | | @daily | Once a day at midnight | 0 0 0 * * * | | @hourly | Once an hour at the beginning of the hour | 0 0 * * * * | | @minutely | Once a minute | 0 * * * * * | | @secondly | Once a second | * * * * * * | | @weekdays | Every weekday at midnight | 0 0 0 * * 1-5 | | @weekends | Every weekend at midnight | 0 0 0 * * 0,6 |

Field Values

| Field | Values | Special Characters | Aliases | | ------------ | ------ | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | | second | 0-59 | * ? , - / H | | | minute | 0-59 | * ? , - / H | | | hour | 0-23 | * ? , - / H | | | day of month | 1-31 | * ? , - / H L | | | month | 1-12 | * ? , - / H | JAN-DEC | | day of week | 0-7 | * ? , - / H L # | SUN-SAT (0 or 7 is Sunday) |

Options

| Option | Type | Description | | ----------- | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | currentDate | Date | string | number | Current date. Defaults to current local time in UTC. If not provided but startDate is set, startDate is used as currentDate | | endDate | Date | string | number | End date of iteration range. Sets iteration range end point | | startDate | Date | string | number | Start date of iteration range. Set iteration range start point | | tz | string | Timezone (e.g., 'Europe/London') | | hashSeed | string | A seed to be used in conjunction with the H special character | | strict | boolean | Enable strict mode validation |

When using string dates, the following formats are supported:

• ISO8601
• HTTP and RFC2822
• SQL

Basic Usage

Expression Parsing

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

try {
  const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('*/2 * * * *');

  // Get next date
  console.log('Next:', interval.next().toString());
  // Get next 3 dates
  console.log(
    'Next 3:',
    interval.take(3).map((date) => date.toString()),
  );

  // Get previous date
  console.log('Previous:', interval.prev().toString());
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message);
}

With Options

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

const options = {
  currentDate: '2023-01-01T00:00:00Z',
  endDate: '2024-01-01T00:00:00Z',
  tz: 'Europe/London',
};

try {
  const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 * * *', options);
  console.log('Next:', interval.next().toString());
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message);
}

Date Range Handling

The library provides handling of date ranges with automatic adjustment of the currentDate:

startDate as fallback: If currentDate is not provided but startDate is, the startDate will be used as the currentDate.

const options = {
  startDate: '2023-01-01T00:00:00Z', // No currentDate provided
};
// currentDate will be set to 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z automatically
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 * * *', options);

Automatic clamping: If currentDate is outside the bounds defined by startDate and endDate, it will be automatically adjusted:

const options = {
  currentDate: '2022-01-01T00:00:00Z', // Before startDate
  startDate: '2023-01-01T00:00:00Z',
  endDate: '2024-01-01T00:00:00Z',
};
// currentDate will be clamped to startDate (2023-01-01T00:00:00Z)
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 * * *', options);

Validation during iteration: While the initial currentDate is automatically adjusted, the library still validates date bounds during iteration:

const options = {
  currentDate: '2023-12-31T00:00:00Z',
  endDate: '2024-01-01T00:00:00Z', // Very close end date
};

const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 * * *', options);
console.log('Next:', interval.next().toString()); // Works fine

// This will throw an error because it would exceed endDate
try {
  console.log('Next:', interval.next().toString());
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message); // "Out of the time span range"
}

This behavior simplifies working with date ranges by removing the need to manually ensure that currentDate is within bounds, reducing confusion and making the API more intuitive.

Crontab File Operations

For working with crontab files, use the CronFileParser:

import { CronFileParser } from 'cron-parser';

// Async file parsing
try {
  const result = await CronFileParser.parseFile('/path/to/crontab');
  console.log('Variables:', result.variables);
  console.log('Expressions:', result.expressions);
  console.log('Errors:', result.errors);
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message);
}

// Sync file parsing
try {
  const result = CronFileParser.parseFileSync('/path/to/crontab');
  console.log('Variables:', result.variables);
  console.log('Expressions:', result.expressions);
  console.log('Errors:', result.errors);
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message);
}

Advanced Features

Strict Mode

In several implementations of CRON, it's ambiguous to specify both the Day Of Month and Day Of Week parameters simultaneously, as it's unclear which one should take precedence. Despite this ambiguity, this library allows both parameters to be set by default, although the resultant behavior might not align with your expectations.

To resolve this ambiguity, you can activate the strict mode of the library. When strict mode is enabled, the library enforces several validation rules:

1. Day Of Month and Day Of Week: Prevents the simultaneous setting of both Day Of Month and Day Of Week fields
2. Complete Expression: Requires all 6 fields to be present in the expression (second, minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week)
3. Non-empty Expression: Rejects empty expressions that would otherwise default to '0 * * * * *'

These validations help ensure that your cron expressions are unambiguous and correctly formatted.

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

// This will throw an error in strict mode because it uses both dayOfMonth and dayOfWeek
const options = {
  currentDate: new Date('Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:00:00'),
  strict: true,
};

try {
  // This will throw an error in strict mode
  CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 12 1-31 * 1', options);
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message);
  // Error: Cannot use both dayOfMonth and dayOfWeek together in strict mode!
}

// This will also throw an error in strict mode because it has fewer than 6 fields
try {
  CronExpressionParser.parse('0 20 15 * *', { strict: true });
} catch (err) {
  console.log('Error:', err.message);
  // Error: Invalid cron expression, expected 6 fields
}

Last Day of Month/Week Support

The library supports parsing the range 0L - 7L in the weekday position of the cron expression, where the L means "last occurrence of this weekday for the month in progress".

For example, the following expression will run on the last Monday of the month at midnight:

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

// Last Monday of every month at midnight
const lastMonday = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 0 * * 1L');

// You can also combine L expressions with other weekday expressions
// This will run every Monday and the last Wednesday of the month
const mixedWeekdays = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 0 * * 1,3L');

// Last day of every month
const lastDay = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 0 L * *');

Using Iterator

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 */2 * * *');

// Using for...of
for (const date of interval) {
  console.log('Iterator value:', date.toString());
  if (someCondition) break;
}

// Using take() for a specific number of iterations
const nextFiveDates = interval.take(5);
console.log(
  'Next 5 dates:',
  nextFiveDates.map((date) => date.toString()),
);

Timezone Support

The library provides robust timezone support using Luxon, handling DST transitions correctly:

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

const options = {
  currentDate: '2023-03-26T01:00:00',
  tz: 'Europe/London',
};

const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 * * * *', options);

// Will correctly handle DST transition
console.log('Next dates during DST transition:');
console.log(interval.next().toString());
console.log(interval.next().toString());
console.log(interval.next().toString());

Field Manipulation

You can modify cron fields programmatically using CronFieldCollection.from and construct a new expression:

import { CronExpressionParser, CronFieldCollection, CronHour, CronMinute } from 'cron-parser';

// Parse original expression
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('0 7 * * 1-5');

// Create new collection with modified fields using raw values
const modified = CronFieldCollection.from(interval.fields, {
  hour: [8],
  minute: [30],
  dayOfWeek: [1, 3, 5],
});

console.log(modified.stringify()); // "30 8 * * 1,3,5"

// You can also use CronField instances
const modified2 = CronFieldCollection.from(interval.fields, {
  hour: new CronHour([15]),
  minute: new CronMinute([30]),
});

console.log(modified2.stringify()); // "30 15 * * 1-5"

The CronFieldCollection.from method accepts either CronField instances or raw values that would be valid for creating new CronField instances. This is particularly useful when you need to modify only specific fields while keeping others unchanged.

Hash support

The library supports adding jitter to the returned intervals using the H special character in a field. When H is specified instead of *, a random value is used (H is replaced by 23, where 23 is picked randomly, within the valid range of the field).

This jitter allows to spread the load when it comes to job scheduling. This feature is inspired by Jenkins's cron syntax.

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

// At 23:<randomized> on every day-of-week from Monday through Friday.
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H 23 * * 1-5');

// At <randomized>:30 everyday.
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('30 H * * *');

// At every minutes of <randomized> hour at <randomized> second everyday.
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H * H * * *');

// At every 5th minute starting from a random offset.
// For example, if the random offset is 3, it will run at minutes 3, 8, 13, 18, etc.
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H/5 * * * *');

// At a random minute within the range 0-10 everyday.
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H(0-10) * * * *');

// At every 5th minute starting from a random offset within the range 0-4.
// For example, if the random offset is 2, it will run at minutes 2, 7, 12, 17, etc.
// The random offset is constrained to be less than the step value.
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H(0-29)/5 * * * *');

// At every minute of the third <randomized> day of the month
const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('* * * * H#3');

The randomness is seed-able using the hashSeed option of CronExpressionOptions:

import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

const options = {
  currentDate: '2023-03-26T01:00:00',
  hashSeed: 'main-backup', // Generally, hashSeed would be a job name for example
};

const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H * * * H', options);

console.log(interval.stringify()); // "12 * * * 4"

const otherInterval = CronExpressionParser.parse('H * * * H', options);

// Using the same seed will always return the same jitter
console.log(otherInterval.stringify()); // "12 * * * 4"

License

MIT