Verifying a cron expression is valid in Java

Question

I'm writing a scheduling application in Java using Quartz. I'm using the CronTrigger, but my cron expressions are entered into a database before they are scheduled and are based on user input.

Is there a way I can verify that the cron expressions are valid when I capture them? I'd rather do this and give the user an appropriate error message than wait until the scheduler is run and I get a ParseException when I try and create the trigger. Which could be days after the user inputs the data.

score 66 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '10 at 12:43

66

Can't you simply create a trigger without actually executing it? You could simply give appropriate feedback in case of a ParseException. If the expression is okay, persist the expression to DB.

Edit: or simply do this:

org.quartz.CronExpression.isValidExpression(expression);

answered Mar 02 '10 at 12:43

sfussenegger

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Note that the validity as checked by this method doesn't *guarantee* that an expression will work. E.g. `isValidExpression("0 0 12 1/2 * MON-FRI *")` returns true, but at runtime it throws `UnsupportedOperationException: Support for specifying both a day-of-week AND a day-of-month parameter is not implemented.` – Jonik Sep 26 '12 at 10:21
Indeed, so it is better also to initiate an expression , and let the constructor call the buildExpression so you are pretty sure this is a valid expression for Quartz – Ahmed Hashem Nov 08 '16 at 14:58
1

@AhmedHashem `isValidExpression` method already internally initiates a `CronExpression` and catches any `ParseException`. So it shouldn't be different. – destan Jan 15 '17 at 10:56

score 19 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

I've modified the following code added by @ph4r05 to generate a regex as well; here's the regex:

^\s*($|#|\w+\s*=|(\?|\*|(?:[0-5]?\d)(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[0-5]?\d))?(?:,(?:[0-5]?\d)(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[0-5]?\d))?)*)\s+(\?|\*|(?:[0-5]?\d)(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[0-5]?\d))?(?:,(?:[0-5]?\d)(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[0-5]?\d))?)*)\s+(\?|\*|(?:[01]?\d|2[0-3])(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[01]?\d|2[0-3]))?(?:,(?:[01]?\d|2[0-3])(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[01]?\d|2[0-3]))?)*)\s+(\?|\*|(?:0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01]))?(?:,(?:0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01]))?)*)\s+(\?|\*|(?:[1-9]|1[012])(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[1-9]|1[012]))?(?:L|W)?(?:,(?:[1-9]|1[012])(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:[1-9]|1[012]))?(?:L|W)?)*|\?|\*|(?:JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC)(?:(?:-)(?:JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC))?(?:,(?:JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC)(?:(?:-)(?:JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC))?)*)\s+(\?|\*|(?:[0-6])(?:(?:-|\/|\,|#)(?:[0-6]))?(?:L)?(?:,(?:[0-6])(?:(?:-|\/|\,|#)(?:[0-6]))?(?:L)?)*|\?|\*|(?:MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)(?:(?:-)(?:MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN))?(?:,(?:MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)(?:(?:-)(?:MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN))?)*)(|\s)+(\?|\*|(?:|\d{4})(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:|\d{4}))?(?:,(?:|\d{4})(?:(?:-|\/|\,)(?:|\d{4}))?)*))$

Here's the java code:

private static String cronRegex = null;

public static String getCronRegex()
{
  if (cronRegex == null)
  {
    // numbers intervals and regex
    Map<String, String> numbers = new HashMap<String, String>();
    numbers.put("sec", "[0-5]?\\d");
    numbers.put("min", "[0-5]?\\d");
    numbers.put("hour", "[01]?\\d|2[0-3]");
    numbers.put("day", "0?[1-9]|[12]\\d|3[01]");
    numbers.put("month", "[1-9]|1[012]");
    numbers.put("dow", "[0-6]");
    numbers.put("year", "|\\d{4}");

    Map<String, String> field_re = new HashMap<String, String>();

    // expand regex to contain different time specifiers
    for (String field : numbers.keySet())
    {
      String number = numbers.get(field);
      String range = "(?:" + number + ")(?:(?:-|\\/|\\," +  ("dow".equals(field)? "|#" :    "") + 

        ")(?:" + number + "))?" +  ("dow".equals(field)? "(?:L)?" : ("month".equals(field)? "(?:L|W)?" : ""));
      field_re.put(field, "\\?|\\*|" + range + "(?:," + range + ")*");
    }

    // add string specifiers
    String monthRE = field_re.get("month");
    String monthREVal =   "JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC";
    String monthRERange = "(?:" + monthREVal + ")(?:(?:-)(?:" + monthREVal + "))?" ; 
    monthRE = monthRE +  "|\\?|\\*|" + monthRERange + "(?:," + monthRERange + ")*" ;
    field_re.put("month", monthRE);

    String dowRE = field_re.get("dow");
    String dowREVal = "MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN";
    String dowRERange = "(?:" + dowREVal + ")(?:(?:-)(?:" + dowREVal + "))?" ;

    dowRE = dowRE + "|\\?|\\*|" + dowRERange + "(?:," + dowRERange + ")*" ;
    field_re.put("dow", dowRE);

    StringBuilder fieldsReSB = new StringBuilder();
    fieldsReSB.append("^\\s*(").append("$") //
      .append("|#") //
      .append("|\\w+\\s*=") //
      .append("|") //
      .append("(")//
      .append(field_re.get("sec")).append(")\\s+(")//
      .append(field_re.get("min")).append(")\\s+(")//
      .append(field_re.get("hour")).append(")\\s+(")//
      .append(field_re.get("day")).append(")\\s+(")//
      .append(field_re.get("month")).append(")\\s+(")//
      .append(field_re.get("dow")).append(")(|\\s)+(")//
      .append(field_re.get("year"))//
      .append(")")//
      .append(")")//
      .append("$");

    cronRegex = fieldsReSB.toString();
  }
  return cronRegex;
}

I'm by no means a regex expert, but at least this seems to work on all the examples given by the quartz documentation

Very nice! This one is valid but unfortunately doesn't work: "0 8 9 ? 1/1 MON#3 *". Guess I'll need to brush up on my regex-fu to fix this thing... — vincentjames501, Sep 24 '16 at 23:53

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '17 at 14:15

You could use cron-utils Not only will check the cron is valid, but you could convert from different cron formats to the target one (ex.: if the user inputs a Unix cron expression, you could easily convert to Quartz and persist that one to DB). Below we provide some snippets:

// Turn cron expressions into another format by using CronMapper:
CronMapper cronMapper = CronMapper.fromUnixToQuartz();

Cron quartzCron = cronMapper.map(unixCron);
// and to get a String representation of it, we can use
quartzCron.asString();

//validate the cron expression!
quartzCron.validate()

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 20 '17 at 20:48

I found the following regular expression in the "QuartzNet" project on Github. I think it may be what Quartz uses to validate cron expressions.

Link: https://github.com/quartznet/quartznet/blob/master/src/Quartz/Xml/job_scheduling_data_2_0.xsd

(((([0-9]|[0-5][0-9])(-([0-9]|[0-5][0-9]))?,)*([0-9]|[0-5][0-9])(-([0-9]|[0-5][0-9]))?)|(([\*]|[0-9]|[0-5][0-9])/([0-9]|[0-5][0-9]))|([\?])|([\*]))[\s](((([0-9]|[0-5][0-9])(-([0-9]|[0-5][0-9]))?,)*([0-9]|[0-5][0-9])(-([0-9]|[0-5][0-9]))?)|(([\*]|[0-9]|[0-5][0-9])/([0-9]|[0-5][0-9]))|([\?])|([\*]))[\s](((([0-9]|[0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3])(-([0-9]|[0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3]))?,)*([0-9]|[0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3])(-([0-9]|[0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3]))?)|(([\*]|[0-9]|[0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3])/([0-9]|[0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3]))|([\?])|([\*]))[\s](((([1-9]|[0][1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|[3][0-1])(-([1-9]|[0][1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|[3][0-1]))?,)*([1-9]|[0][1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|[3][0-1])(-([1-9]|[0][1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|[3][0-1]))?(C)?)|(([1-9]|[0][1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|[3][0-1])/([1-9]|[0][1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|[3][0-1])(C)?)|(L(-[0-9])?)|(L(-[1-2][0-9])?)|(L(-[3][0-1])?)|(LW)|([1-9]W)|([1-3][0-9]W)|([\?])|([\*]))[\s](((([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2])(-([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2]))?,)*([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2])(-([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2]))?)|(([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2])/([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[0-2]))|(((JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC)(-(JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC))?,)*(JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC)(-(JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC))?)|((JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC)/(JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC))|([\?])|([\*]))[\s]((([1-7](-([1-7]))?,)*([1-7])(-([1-7]))?)|([1-7]/([1-7]))|(((MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)(-(MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN))?,)*(MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)(-(MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN))?(C)?)|((MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)/(MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)(C)?)|(([1-7]|(MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN))?(L|LW)?)|(([1-7]|MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|SUN)#([1-7])?)|([\?])|([\*]))([\s]?(([\*])?|(19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9]))?| (((19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9]))/((19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9])))?| ((((19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9]))(-((19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9])))?,)*((19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9]))(-((19[7-9][0-9])|(20[0-9][0-9])))?)?)

LHCHIN · Answer 5 · 2019-11-06T05:37:19.863

If you are using org.quartz, you can validate a Cron expression as follows:

try {
    CronExpression cron = new CronExpression(cronExpression);
    ...
} catch (ParseException e) {
    //exception handling
}

Quoted from official API document Class CronExpression:

public CronExpression(String cronExpression) throws ParseException
Constructs a new CronExpression based on the specified parameter.
Parameters:
cronExpression - String representation of the cron expression the new object should represent
Throws:
ParseException - if the string expression cannot be parsed into a valid CronExpression

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 07 '20 at 06:33

0

you can also use org.springframework.scheduling.support.CronSequenceGenerator.isValidExpression(@Nullable String expression) method if you have not org.quartz package.

answered Sep 07 '20 at 06:33

车言涛

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spring CronSequenceGenerator parse CronTab crons and not Quartz crons which are slightly different if I'm not mistaken. And it's now deprecated on top of that. – Kasonnara Jun 14 '21 at 15:21

Verifying a cron expression is valid in Java

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