cal Command: Displaying Calendars in the Terminal
Summary
The cal command is a simple yet useful utility in Linux for displaying a calendar in the terminal. It provides a quick way to view the current month, a specific month, or even the entire year.
Introduction
The cal command, short for "calendar," is a standard Unix utility that displays a calendar in the terminal. It's incredibly straightforward to use and doesn't require any special configuration. It's a quick and easy way to check dates without needing a graphical calendar application. The default display is a textual representation of the current month. It is pre-installed in the majority of Linux distributions.
Use case and Examples
Display a specific month's calendar
Displays the calendar for October 2023. The first argument is the month (1-12), and the second is the year.Display the calendar in Julian format
Displays the current month's calendar with Julian dates (day of the year).Commonly used flags
| Flag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
-1 | Display single month output. (This is default behaviour) | cal -1 |
-3 | Display three months spanning the date, one previous, current and next | cal -3 |
-s | Display Sunday as first day of the week | cal -s |
-m | Display Monday as first day of the week | cal -m |
-j | Display Julian dates (day of the year) | cal -j |
-y | Display the calendar for the current year. | cal -y |
-V | Display version information and exit | cal -V |