Cal (command)
Template:Short description Template:Lowercase title Template:Infobox software Template:Code is a shell command that prints a calendar as ASCII text for one or more months. With no command-line options, it prints a calendar for the current month.
It is specified in the Single UNIX Specification and available on various operating systems including Unix, Plan 9, Inferno and Unix-like systems such as Linux. It was present in 1st Edition Unix. A cal command is also part of ASCII's MSX-DOS2 Tools for MSX-DOS version 2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is also available for FreeDOS (developed by Charles Dye) in which it supports the Gregorian calendar (new style) and may be distributed freely, with or without source.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Examples
The following prints the current month calendar which in this case happens to be Feb. 2024.
<syntaxhighlight lang="console"> $ cal
February 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29
</syntaxhighlight>
The following prints a calendar for the previous, current and next month.
<syntaxhighlight lang="console"> $ cal -3
June 2022 July 2022 August 2022
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 26 27 28 29 30 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 29 30 31 </syntaxhighlight>
The following prints a calendar for each month of 2023.
<syntaxhighlight lang="console"> $ cal 2023
2023
January February March
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 29 30 31 26 27 28 26 27 28 29 30 31
April May June
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 30
July August September
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 31
October November December
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 1 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 30 31 26 27 28 29 30 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
</syntaxhighlight>
The following prints a calendar for the June 2023. A month is specified by its number (1-12) in the year.
<syntaxhighlight lang="console"> $ cal 6 2023
June 2023
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 </syntaxhighlight>
Quirks (1752)
Template:More <syntaxhighlight lang="console"> $ cal 9 1752
September 1752
S M Tu W Th F S
1 2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 </syntaxhighlight>
The Gregorian calendar reform was adopted by the Kingdom of Great Britain, including its possessions in North America (later to become eastern USA and Canada), in September 1752. As a result, the September 1752 cal shows the adjusted days missing. This month was the official (British) adoption of the Gregorian calendar from the previously used Julian calendar. This has been documented in the man pages for Sun Solaris as follows. "An unusual calendar is printed for September 1752. That is the month when 11 days were skipped to make up for lack of leap year adjustments."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Plan 9 from Bell Labs manual states: "Try Template:Mono." Date of adoption of the reform differs widely between countries so, for some users, this feature may be a bug. Special handling of 1752 is known to have appeared as early as the first edition of the Unix Programmer's Manual in 1971.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
See also
References
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Sources
External links
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- Source of explanation of cal 9 1752 phenomena (humor)
Template:Unix commands Template:Plan 9 commands Template:Calendaring software