# phpman > man > cal(1)

> **TLDR:** Display a calendar with the current day highlighted.
>
- Display a calendar for the current month:
  `cal`
- Display a calendar for a specific year:
  `cal {{year}}`
- Display a calendar for a specific month and year:
  `cal {{month}} {{year}}`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

[CAL(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CAL/1/markdown)                    BSD General Commands Manual                   [CAL(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/CAL/1/markdown)

## NAME
     **cal**, **ncal** — displays a calendar and the date of Easter

## SYNOPSIS
     **cal** [**-3hjy**] [**-A** _number_] [**-B** _number_] [[_month_] _year_]
     **cal** [**-3hj**] [**-A** _number_] [**-B** _number_] **-m** _month_ [_year_]
     **ncal** [**-3bhjJpwySM**] [**-A** _number_] [**-B** _number_] [**-W** _number_] [**-s** _country_code_] [[_month_] _year_]
     **ncal** [**-Jeo**] [**-A** _number_] [**-B** _number_] [_year_]
     **ncal** [**-CN**] [**-H** _yyyy-mm-dd_] [**-d** _yyyy-mm_]

## DESCRIPTION
     The **cal** utility displays a simple calendar in traditional format and **ncal** offers an alternative
     layout, more options and the date of Easter.  The new format is a little cramped but it makes a
     year fit on a 25x80 terminal.  If arguments are not specified, the current month is displayed.

     The options are as follows:

### -h

### -J -o
             Easter according to the Julian Calendar.

### -e

### -j

### -m
             Display the specified _month_.  If _month_ is specified as a decimal number, appending ‘f’
             or ‘p’ displays the same month of the following or previous year respectively.

### -o

### -p
             are assumed by **ncal**.  The country code as determined from the local environment is
             marked with an asterisk.

### -s
             Assume the switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar at the date associated with the
             _country_code_.  If not specified, **ncal** tries to guess the switch date from the local en‐
             vironment or falls back to September 2, 1752.  This was when Great Britain and her
             colonies switched to the Gregorian Calendar.

### -w

### -y
             month are specified on the command line.

### -3

### -1

### -A
             Months to add after. The specified number of months is added to the end of the display.
             This is in addition to any date range selected by the **-y**, **-3**, or **-1** options. For exam‐
             ple, “cal -y -B2 -A2” shows everything from November of the previous year to February
             of the following year. Negative numbers are allowed, in which case the specified number
             of months is subtracted. For example, “cal -y -B-6” shows July to December. And “cal
             -A11” simply shows the next 12 months.

### -B
             Months to add before. The specified number of months is added to the beginning of the
             display. See **-A** for examples.

### -C -b

### -d
             Use _yyyy-mm_ as the current date (for debugging of date selection).

### -H
             Use _yyyy-mm-dd_ as the current date (for debugging of highlighting).

### -M

### -S

### -W
             First week of the year has at least _number_ days.

### -b

     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 and
     year; the month is either a number between 1 and 12, or a full or abbreviated name as specified
     by the current locale.  Month and year default to those of the current system clock and time
     zone (so “cal -m 8” will display a calendar for the month of August in the current year).

     Not all options can be used together.  For example the options **-y**, **-3**, and **-1** are mutually ex‐
     clusive. If inconsistent options are given, the later ones take precedence over the earlier
     ones.

     A year starts on January 1.

     Highlighting of dates is disabled if stdout is not a tty.

## SEE ALSO
     [calendar(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/calendar/3/markdown), [strftime(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/strftime/3/markdown)

## STANDARDS
     The **cal** utility is compliant with the X/Open System Interfaces option of the IEEE Std
     1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

     The flags [**-3hyJeopw**], as well as the ability to specify a month name as a single argument, are
     extensions to that specification.

     The week number computed by **-w** is compliant with the ISO 8601 specification.

## HISTORY
     A **cal** command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.  The **ncal** command appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.6.
     The output of the **cal** command is supposed to be bit for bit compatible to the original Unix **cal**
     command, because its output is processed by other programs like CGI scripts, that should not be
     broken. Therefore it will always output 8 lines, even if only 7 contain data. This extra blank
     line also appears with the original **cal** command, at least on Solaris 8

## AUTHORS
     The **ncal** command and manual were written by Wolfgang Helbig <<_helbig@FreeBSD.org_>>.

## BUGS
     The assignment of Julian–Gregorian switching dates to country codes is historically naive for
     many countries.

     Not all options are compatible and using them in different orders will give varying results.

     It is not possible to display Monday as the first day of the week with **cal**.

BSD                              March 7, 2019                             BSD