How to use the command gcal (with examples)
The gcal command is a tool that allows you to display a calendar on your command line interface. It provides several options to customize the calendar display, such as specifying a specific month and year, including week numbers, changing the starting day of the week, and displaying the previous, current and next months.
Use case 1: Display calendar for the current month
Code:
gcal
Motivation:
You may want to quickly view the calendar for the current month without leaving your terminal. Using the gcal command without any arguments will display the calendar for the current month.
Explanation:
No arguments are required for this use case. The gcal command without any arguments will automatically display the calendar for the current month.
Example output:
February 2010
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
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
Use case 2: Display calendar for the month of February of the year 2010
Code:
gcal 2 2010
Motivation:
You may need to reference a specific calendar for a particular month and year. By specifying the month and year as arguments to the gcal command, you can view the calendar for that specific month.
Explanation:
In this use case, 2 represents the month of February and 2010 represents the year 2010. By providing these arguments to the gcal command, the calendar for February 2010 will be displayed.
Example output:
February 2010
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
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
Use case 3: Provide calendar sheet with week numbers
Code:
gcal --with-week-number
Motivation:
If you need to have an overview of the week numbers along with the dates on the calendar, you can use the --with-week-number option. This can be useful for planning events or tracking time on a weekly basis.
Explanation:
The --with-week-number option is provided to the gcal command. This adds a column to the calendar display that shows the corresponding week number for each date.
Example output:
February 2010
Wk Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
7 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
8 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Use case 4: Change starting day of week to 1st day of the week (Monday)
Code:
gcal --starting-day=1
Motivation:
By default, the gcal command starts the week on Sunday. However, if you prefer to start the week on Monday, you can use the --starting-day option to customize the starting day of the week.
Explanation:
The --starting-day option is followed by a number representing the starting day. In this use case, 1 is used to represent Monday as the starting day of the week.
Example output:
February 2010
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
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
Use case 5: Display the previous, current and next month surrounding today
Code:
gcal .
Motivation:
When you want to see the calendar for the previous month, the current month, and the next month in relation to today’s date, you can use the gcal command with . as the argument.
Explanation:
In this use case, the . serves as the argument to the gcal command. This results in the display of the previous month, the current month, and the next month surrounding today’s date.
Example output:
January 2010
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
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 31
February 2010
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
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
March 2010
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
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 31
Conclusion:
The gcal command is a versatile tool for displaying calendars on the command line. With the provided use cases, you can view calendars for specific months and years, customize the display with week numbers, set the starting day of the week, and see a range of months surrounding today’s date. This command is particularly useful for quickly referencing dates and planning events right from your terminal.
