NAME

cal - displays a calendar

SYNOPSIS

cal [-3hjry] [-A after] [-B before] [-d day-of-week] [-R reform-spec] [month[.blm Pp year]]

DESCRIPTION

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

-3
Same as ``-A 1 -B 1''.

-A after
Display after months after the specified month.

-B before
Display before months before the specified month.

-d day-of-week
Specifies the day of the week on which the calendar should start. Valid values are 0 through 6, presenting Sunday through Saturday, inclusively. The default output starts on Sundays.

-h
Highlight the current day, if present in the displayed calendar. If output is to a terminal, then the appropriate terminal sequences are used, otherwise overstriking is used. If more than one -h is used and output is to a terminal, the current date will be highlighted in inverse video instead of bold.

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

-R reform-spec
Selects an alternate Gregorian reform point from the default of September 3rd, 1752. The reform-spec can be selected by one of the built-in names (see NOTES for a list) or by a date of the form YYYY/MM/DD. The date and month may be omitted, provided that what is specified uniquely selects a given built-in reform point. If an exact date is specified, then that date is taken to be the first missing date of the Gregorian Reform to be applied.

-r
Display the month in which the Gregorian Reform adjustment was applied, if no other month or year information is given. If used in conjunction with -y, then the entire year is displayed.

-y
Display a calendar for the current year.

If no parameters are specified, the current month's calendar is displayed. A single parameter specifies the year and optionally the month in ISO format: ``cal 2007-12'' Two parameters denote the month (1 - 12) and year. Note that the century must be included in the year.

A year starts on Jan 1.

NOTES

In the USA and Great Britain the Gregorian Reformation occurred in 1752. By this time, most countries had recognized the reformation (although a few did not recognize it until the 1900's.) Eleven days following September 2, 1752 were eliminated by the reformation, so the calendar for that month is a bit unusual.

In view of the chaotic way the Gregorian calendar was adopted throughout the world in the years between 1582 and 1928 make sure to take into account the date of the Gregorian Reformation in your region if you are checking a calendar for a very old date.

cal has a decent built-in list of Gregorian Reform dates and the names of the countries where the reform was adopted:

        Italy           Oct.  5, 1582   Denmark         Feb. 19, 1700
        Spain           Oct.  5, 1582   Great Britain   Sep.  3, 1752
        Portugal        Oct.  5, 1582   Sweden          Feb. 18, 1753
        Poland          Oct.  5, 1582   Finland         Feb. 18, 1753
        France          Dec. 12, 1582   Japan           Dec. 20, 1872
        Luxembourg      Dec. 22, 1582   China           Nov.  7, 1911
        Netherlands     Dec. 22, 1582   Bulgaria        Apr.  1, 1916
        Bavaria         Oct.  6, 1583   U.S.S.R.        Feb.  1, 1918
        Austria         Jan.  7, 1584   Serbia          Jan. 19, 1919
        Switzerland     Jan. 12, 1584   Romania         Jan. 19, 1919
        Hungary         Oct. 22, 1587   Greece          Mar. 10, 1924
        Germany         Feb. 19, 1700   Turkey          Dec. 19, 1925
        Norway          Feb. 19, 1700   Egypt           Sep. 18, 1928

The country known as Great Britain can also be referred to as England since that has less letters and no spaces in it. This is meant only as a measure of expediency, not as a possible slight to anyone involved.

HISTORY

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