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

Answer 1

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 numbers = new HashMap();
    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 field_re = new HashMap();

    // 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