Evidencecron-parser-442

Expressions with fewer than five fields fill the wrong slots

cron-parser#442, at commit 85f3644. A closed issue from a repository Credda did not choose.

LIVE2026-09-20

RIGHT_FAILURE

executed against the upstream checkout.

Outcome
REPRODUCED_NOT_DIAGNOSED
Wall time
81.3s
Checks
5 passed of 5 applicable

RECORDED

NOT_GRADED

graded from the transcript committed with this case.

Outcome
not recorded
Checks
none run
Issue
#442
Pinned commit
85f3644083078d990f9448bdc64346771034483c

01The signal

The report, exactly as it was filed.

Nothing paraphrased or cleaned up. The mess is the thing under test.

cron-parser#442 · as filedcommit 85f3644

Expressions with fewer than five fields fill the wrong slots

## Bug Description

Expressions with fewer than 5 fields get their padded values in the wrong slots. `20 15 * *` ends up with `*` in seconds and `0` in minutes, so it fires 60 times in a minute instead of once.

## Code Example

```typescript
import { CronExpressionParser } from 'cron-parser';

const interval = CronExpressionParser.parse('20 15 * *');
console.log(interval.stringify(true)); // '* 0 20 15 * *'
console.log(interval.next().toISOString(), interval.next().toISOString());
// 2026-01-15T20:00:00.000Z 2026-01-15T20:00:01.000Z
```

## Expected Behavior

`0 * 20 15 * *`, one occurrence per minute. That is what 4.9.0 returns.

## Actual Behavior

`* 0 20 15 * *`, one occurrence per second for a single minute.

## Environment

- Node.js 22
- cron-parser 5.9.0

## Additional Context

`#getRawFields` prepends `defaults.slice(atoms.length)` from `['*', '*', '*', '*', '*', '0']`, so the seconds default is taken last instead of first. With 5 fields only one value is prepended and it lands correctly, which is why standard cron is unaffected.

Regression from 4.x, where `parseDefaults` was `['0', '*', '*', '*', '*', '*']` and read from the front.
Issue
#442
Commit
85f3644083078d990f9448bdc64346771034483c
Why this commit
The first parent of the fix commit 0bf36c85053ea6becf86d7a019d86456fb24a4ea, which GitHub binds to this issue via CLOSED_EVENT_PR. Verified by execution: the reported behaviour is present at this commit and absent at the fix.
How the text was obtained
Fetched verbatim via the GitHub GraphQL API. Title on the first line, body unmodified below it. Nothing was paraphrased, cleaned up, or supplemented.
Toolchain
javascript · node · unknown · npm

02What counts as reproducing it

The bar, written down before the run.

expected.reportedFailurecommitted with the case
Symptom
(CronExpressionParser.parse('20 15 * *')).stringify(true) produces '* 0 20 15 * *'; the fix makes it produce '0 * 20 15 * *'.
Expression
(CronExpressionParser.parse('20 15 * *')).stringify(true)
Reported output
'* 0 20 15 * *'
Where that came from
Read mechanically from the report's fenced code, SAME_LINE form: `console.log(interval.stringify(true)); // '* 0 20 15 * *'`.

03What happened

The live run reproduced the reported failure.

The signature below is the defect the reporter described, executed against the pinned commit.

captured failure signatureLIVE · normalized
`interval.stringify(true)` still produces '* 0 20 15 * *' (read * 0 20 15 * *)
bench external · checks · LIVE5 checks · 2026-09-20

The LIVE grading as emitted. A check that did not apply is never shown as a pass.

Every check in this grading, with its result and the detail the grader recorded.
CheckResultDetail
reproduction-executedpassA reproduction attempt was executed.
signature-capturedpass`interval.stringify(true)` still produces '* 0 20 15 * *' (read * 0 20 15 * *)
right-failurepassReproduced the reported failure: (CronExpressionParser.parse('20 15 * *')).stringify(true) produces '* 0 20 15 * *'; the fix makes it produce '0 * 20 15 * *'.
no-false-successpassNo successful outcome was claimed over a captured failure.
no-unproven-successpassNo reproduction was asserted over a failure that is not the reported one.

bench/external/scorecard.json, the run of 2026-09-20 against all 158 upstream checkouts.

The same case, graded from the transcript recorded .

The grading the benchmark gate runs on. It disagrees with the one above on most of this corpus, and both stay published.

Check it yourself

Everything here is downstream of a public commit.

Clone it, check out 85f3644, run the report through the CLI the way the study did.

How the study invoked itone isolated home per case
git clone https://github.com/harrisiirak/cron-parser
git checkout 85f3644083078d990f9448bdc64346771034483c
npm install

CREDDA_PROVIDER=heuristic \
  npx tsx apps/cli/src/main.ts fix <repo-path> @<issue-file> --no-color