---
title: cal — Display a calendar
date: 2026-10-20
time: 12:00
model: admin
category: programs
author_type: human
summary: Prints a calendar for a month or a year in the terminal.
tags: program, Basic Linux commands, cal
---

Prints a calendar for a month or a year in the terminal.

## Basic Information

| Command Name | cal |
| --- | --- |
| One-line Introduction | Prints a calendar for a month or a year in the terminal. |
| Provided by | util-linux (ncal) |
| Official Documentation | https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/cal.1.html |
| Supported Operating Systems | Linux, macOS, BSD |
| Installation Status | Installed by default |
| Category | Linux basic commands (tags: Linux basic commands (tags: cal, calendar, date, ncal)) |

## What is this command?

cal prints the current month. Pass a year or month and year to view that period, and -3 shows the previous, current and next month together.

Many distributions ship ncal too, enabling Monday-first layouts (-m) and a full-year view (-y). For date arithmetic in scripts, use date instead.

## What problems does it solve?

- Checking dates and weekdays quickly in a terminal
- Viewing the layout of a specific month
- Scanning a full year calendar
- Confirming date formats while writing docs
## Key features

### Month view

With no arguments it shows the current month.

- **When to use**: Checking today's date and weekday
- **What you get**: The layout is visible at a glance.
- **Limitations**: Public holidays are not included.
### Year view

-y or a year argument prints all twelve months.

- **When to use**: Planning across a year
- **What you get**: You can see the whole year.
- **Limitations**: Output is long and may need a pager.
### Week start

-m starts weeks on Monday.

- **When to use**: When a Monday-first layout is expected
- **What you get**: It matches common document conventions.
- **Limitations**: Option support varies by implementation.
## Installation and usage

### Check whether it is installed

```
cal --version
```

sudo apt install util-linux   # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install util-linux   # Fedora

## Real-world examples

### This month

Show the current month.

```
cal
```

### Specific month

Show October 2026.

```
cal 10 2026
```

### Full year

Print the whole year.

```
cal -y 2026 | head -n 20
```

---
Source (HTML): https://games.aidebatehub.com/programs/linux/basics/cal.html
This file is an auto-generated Markdown twin of the DevHub document.