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Name

cal - displays a calendar

Synopsis

cal [-smjy13] [[month] year]

Description

Cal displays a simple calendar. If arguments are not specified, the current month is displayed. The options are as follows:

-1
Display single month output. (This is the default.)

-3
Display prev/current/next month output.

-s
Display Sunday as the first day of the week. (This is the default.)

-m
Display Monday as the first day of the week.

-j
Display Julian dates (days one-based, numbered from January 1).

-y
Display a calendar for the current year.

A single parameter specifies the year (1 - 9999) to be displayed; note the year must be fully specified: “cal 89” will not display a calendar for 1989. Two parameters denote the month (1 - 12) and year. If no parameters are specified, the current month’s calendar is displayed.

A year starts on Jan 1.

The Gregorian Reformation is assumed to have occurred in 1752 on the 3rd of September. By this time, most countries had recognized the reformation (although a few did not recognize it until the early 1900’s.) Ten days following that date were eliminated by the reformation, so the calendar for that month is a bit unusual.

History

A cal command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

Other Versions

Several much more elaborate versions of this program exist, with support for colors, holidays, birthdays, reminders and appointments, etc. For example, try the cal from http://home.sprynet.com/~cbagwell/projects.html or GNU gcal.

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