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3.1.1.3 Calendar options

-n|N[-]
--holiday-list[=long|short]
--descending-holiday-list[=long|short]
Display the eternal holiday list. By default, there are no entries in the eternal holiday list. You have to choose country specific holidays or holidays from other calendar systems to provide the eternal holiday list with entries. See Eternal Holidays, and Calendar option --cc-holidays=cc[+...], for additional information.
-n
--holiday-list=long
Display all holidays of eternal holiday list —this means, all legal holidays and all further memorial days— sorted in ascending order.
-n-
--descending-holiday-list=long
Display all holidays of eternal holiday list —this means, all legal holidays and all further memorial days— sorted in descending order.
-N
--holiday-list=short
Display legal holidays only of eternal holiday list, sorted in ascending order.
-N-
--descending-holiday-list=short
Display legal holidays only of eternal holiday list, sorted in descending order.

-G
--suppress-holiday-list-separator
Suppress displaying of the blank line which is always leading an eternal holiday list.
-X
--exclude-holiday-list-title
Suppress the title text line of the eternal holiday list.
--astronomical-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with some astronomical data, and that the Full and New Moon phases, waning and waxing Half Moon phases, solar and lunar eclipses, and the solstices and equinoxes. See Calendar option --time-offset=argument, how to change the timezone respectively base time for which the astronomical data is calculated.
--bahai-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Bahá'ì holidays (only for dates after AD 1843).
--celtic-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Celtic holidays. See Calendar option --time-offset=argument, how to change the timezone for which the Celtic holidays are calculated.
--chinese-flexible-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Chinese holidays, that are determined in a flexible manner (only for dates after AD 1644). See Calendar option --time-offset=argument, how to change the timezone for which the Chinese holidays are calculated in a flexible manner. See Preface, for further details.
--chinese-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Chinese holidays (only for dates after AD 1644). For dates until AD 1928 all computations done are depending fixed on Beijing local time, for later dates fixed on the timezone GMT-8. See Preface, for further details.
--christian-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Christian holidays.
--hebrew-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Hebrew holidays.
--islamic-civil-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Islamic holidays (only for dates after AD 621), that are based on the civil Islamic calendar. See Preface, for further details.
--japanese-flexible-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Japanese holidays, that are determined in a flexible manner (only for dates after AD 1644). See Calendar option --time-offset=argument, how to change the timezone for which the Japanese holidays are calculated in a flexible manner.
--japanese-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Japanese holidays (only for dates after AD 1644). For dates until AD 1887 all computations done are depending fixed on Beijing local time, for later dates fixed on the timezone GMT-9.
--multicultural-new-year-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with multicultural New Year holidays. See Calendar option --time-offset=argument, how to change the timezone for which the multicultural New Year holidays are calculated.
--orthodox-new-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Orthodox new calendar holidays, and it is assumed that the Gregorian Reformation has occurred from 10th till 22nd March 1924. See Calendar option --orthodox-calendar, for further details.
--orthodox-old-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Orthodox new calendar holidays, and it is assumed that the Gregorian Reformation has occurred from 10th till 22nd March 1924. See Calendar option --orthodox-calendar, for further details.
--persian-jalaali-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with Persian holidays (only for dates after AD 621), which are based on the Persian Jalaali calendar. All computations done are depending on the timezone GMT-3.5.
--zodiacal-marker-holidays
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with zodiacal marker holidays, i.e. the dates when the Sun enters a zodiac sign or when the Sun reaches the turning-point in the zodiac sign. See Calendar option --time-offset=argument, how to change the timezone for which the zodiacal marker holidays are calculated.
-q cc[_tt][+...]
--cc-holidays=cc[_tt][+...]
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with country specific holidays. Furthermore, all additionally highlighted days of the eternal holiday list are highlighted in the calendar sheets, too.

The cc argument is a two-letter country code as defined by the ISO-31661 like ‘BE’ for Belgium or ‘ES’ for Spain. See the pertinent literature for more details.

In some cases, such a country code may be trailed by a two-letter territory code tt for better specification, which is separated by a ‘_’ character from the country code.

You can use more than one country code cc[_tt] by connecting them with a ‘+’ character, e.g.:

--cc-holidays=be+Fr+IT resp.,
-q be+Fr+IT

includes all the country specific holidays given in the preceding argument into the eternal holiday list, i.e. Belgian, French and Italian holidays.

Actually, Gcal respects the following country codes, at which countries marked by a ‘#’ character have only an incomplete recording of holidays:

AD
Andorra
AE
United Arab Emirates
AF
Afghanistan
AG
Antigua and Barbuda
AI
Anguilla
AL
Albania
AM
Armenia
AN_BO
Netherlands Antilles/Bonaire
AN_CU
Netherlands Antilles/Curaçao
AN_MA
Netherlands Antilles/St Maarten
AN_SA
Netherlands Antilles/Saba and Statia
AO
Angola #
AR
Argentina
AS
American Samoa
AT
Austria
AU_CT
Australia/Canberra
AU_NT
Australia/Northern Territory
AU_QU
Australia/Queensland
AU_SA
Australia/Southern Australia
AU_SW
Australia/New South Wales
AU_TA
Australia/Tasmania
AU_VI
Australia/Victoria
AU_WA
Australia/Western Australia
AW
Aruba
AZ
Azerbaijan
BA
Bosnia-Herzegovina
BB
Barbados
BD
Bangladesh #
BE
Belgium
BF
Burkina Faso
BG
Bulgaria
BH
Bahrain
BI
Burundi #
BJ
Benin #
BM
Bermuda
BN
Brunei
BO
Bolivia
BR
Brazil
BS
Bahamas
BT
Bhutan #
BV
Bouvet Island
BW
Botswana
BY
Belarus
BZ
Belize
CA_AL
Canada/Alberta
CA_BC
Canada/British Columbia
CA_MA
Canada/Manitoba
CA_NB
Canada/New Brunswick
CA_NF
Canada/Newfoundland and Labrador
CA_NS
Canada/Nova Scotia
CA_NW
Canada/Nordwest Territories
CA_ON
Canada/Ontario
CA_PE
Canada/Prince Edward Island
CA_QU
Canada/Québec
CA_SA
Canada/Saskatchewan
CA_YU
Canada/Yukon
CC
Cocos Islands (Keeling)
CD
Democratic Republic of Congo #
CF
Central African Republic #
CG
Republic of Congo #
CH_AG
Switzerland/Aargau
CH_AI
Switzerland/Appenzell Innerrhoden
CH_AR
Switzerland/Appenzell Ausserrhoden
CH_BE
Switzerland/Bern
CH_BL
Switzerland/Basel-Land
CH_BS
Switzerland/Basel-Stadt
CH_FR
Switzerland/Fribourg
CH_GE
Switzerland/Genève
CH_GL
Switzerland/Glarus
CH_GR
Switzerland/Graubünden
CH_JU
Switzerland/Jura
CH_LU
Switzerland/Luzern
CH_NE
Switzerland/Neuchâtel
CH_NW
Switzerland/Nidwalden
CH_OW
Switzerland/Obwalden
CH_SG
Switzerland/St Gallen
CH_SH
Switzerland/Schaffhausen
CH_SO
Switzerland/Solothurn
CH_SZ
Switzerland/Schwyz
CH_TG
Switzerland/Thurgau
CH_TI
Switzerland/Ticino
CH_UR
Switzerland/Uri
CH_VD
Switzerland/Vaud
CH_VS
Switzerland/Valais
CH_ZG
Switzerland/Zug
CH_ZH
Switzerland/Zürich
CI
Côte d'Ivoire
CK
Cook Islands
CL
Chile
CM
Cameroon
CN
China
CO
Colombia
CR
Costa Rica
CU
Cuba
CV
Cape Verde
CX
Christmas Islands
CY
Cyprus
CZ
Czech Republic
DE_BB
Germany/Brandenburg
DE_BE
Germany/Berlin
DE_BW
Germany/Baden-Württemberg
DE_BY
Germany/Bavaria
DE_HB
Germany/Bremen
DE_HE
Germany/Hesse
DE_HH
Germany/Hamburg
DE_MV
Germany/Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
DE_NI
Germany/Lower Saxony
DE_NW
Germany/North Rhine-Westphalia
DE_RP
Germany/Rhineland Palatinate
DE_SH
Germany/Schleswig-Holstein
DE_SL
Germany/Saar
DE_SN
Germany/Saxony
DE_ST
Germany/Saxony-Anhalt
DE_TH
Germany/Thuringia
DJ
Djibouti
DK
Denmark
DM
Dominica
DO
Dominican Republic
DZ
Algeria
EC
Ecuador
EE
Estonia
EG
Egypt
EH
Western Sahara
ER
Eritrea
ES
Spain
ET
Ethiopia
FI
Finland
FJ
Fiji #
FK
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
FM
Federated States of Micronesia
FO
Faroes
FR
France
GA
Gabon #
GB_EN
Great Britain/England and Wales
GB_NI
Great Britain/Northern Ireland
GB_SL
Great Britain/Scotland
GD
Grenada
GE
Georgia
GF
French Guiana
GH
Ghana
GI
Gibraltar
GL
Greenland
GM
Gambia
GN
Guinea
GP
Guadeloupe
GQ
Equatorial Guinea
GR
Greece
GS
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
GT
Guatemala
GU
Guam
GW
Guinea-Bissau #
GY
Guyana #
HK
Hong Kong
HM
Heard and Mc Donald Islands
HN
Honduras
HR
Croatia
HT
Haiti
HU
Hungary
ID
Indonesia #
IE
Ireland
IL
Israel
IN
India #
IQ
Iraq
IR
Islamic Republic of Iran
IS
Iceland
IT
Italy
JM
Jamaica
JO
Jordan
JP
Japan
KE
Kenya #
KG
Kyrgyzstan
KH
Cambodia #
KI
Kiribati #
KM
Comoros
KN
St Kitts and Nevis
KP
Democratic People's Republic of Korea #
KR
Republic of Korea
KW
Kuwait
KY
Cayman Islands
KZ
Kazakhstan
LA
Laos People's Democratic Republic #
LB
Lebanon
LC
St Lucia
LI
Liechtenstein
LK
Sri Lanka #
LR
Liberia
LS
Lesotho
LT
Lithuania
LU
Luxembourg
LV
Latvia
LY
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Libya)
MA
Morocco
MC
Monaco
MD
Republic of Moldova
MG
Madagascar #
MH
Marshall Islands
MK
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
ML
Mali
MN
Mongolia #
MO
Macau
MP
Northern Marian Islands (Saipan)
MQ
Martinique
MR
Mauritania
MS
Montserrat
MT
Malta
MU
Mauritius
MV
Maldives
MW
Malawi
MX
Mexico
MY
Malaysia #
MZ
Mozambique
NA
Namibia
NC
New Caledonia
NE
Niger
NF
Norfolk Islands
NG
Nigeria
NI
Nicaragua
NL
Netherlands
NM
Myanmar (Burma) #
NO
Norway
NP
Nepal #
NR
Nauru
NU
Niue
NZ
New Zealand
OM
Oman
PA
Panama
PE
Peru
PF
French Polynesia
PG
Papua New Guinea
PH
Philippines
PK
Pakistan
PL
Poland
PM
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
PN
Pitcairn
PR
Puerto Rico
PT
Portugal
PW
Palau
PY
Paraguay
QA
Qatar
RE
Réunion
RO
Romania
RU
Russian Federation
RW
Rwanda
SA
Saudi Arabia
SB
Solomon Islands
SC
Seychellen
SD
Sudan
SE
Sweden
SG
Singapore #
SH
St Helena
SI
Slovenia
SJ
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
SK
Slovakia
SL
Sierra Leone
SM
San Marino
SN
Senegal
SO
Somalia
SR
Suriname #
ST
Sao Tomé and Principe
SV
El Salvador
SY
Syrian Arab Republic (Syria)
SZ
Swaziland
TC
Turks and Caicos Islands
TD
Chad
TG
Togo #
TH
Thailand #
TJ
Tajikistan
TK
Tokelau
TM
Turkmenistan
TN
Tunisia
TO
Tonga
TR
Turkey
TT
Trinidad and Tobago #
TV
Tuvalu
TW
Taiwan
TZ
Tanzania
UA
Ukraine
UG
Uganda
US_AK
United States/Alaska
US_AL
United States/Alabama
US_AR
United States/Arkansas
US_AZ
United States/Arizona
US_CA
United States/California
US_CO
United States/Colorado
US_CT
United States/Connecticut
US_DC
United States/District of Columbia
US_DE
United States/Delaware
US_FL
United States/Florida
US_GA
United States/Georgia
US_HI
United States/Hawaii
US_IA
United States/Iowa
US_ID
United States/Idaho
US_IL
United States/Illinois
US_IN
United States/Indiana
US_KS
United States/Kansas
US_KY
United States/Kentucky
US_LA
United States/Louisiana
US_MA
United States/Massachusetts
US_MD
United States/Maryland
US_ME
United States/Maine
US_MI
United States/Michigan
US_MN
United States/Minnesota
US_MO
United States/Missouri
US_MS
United States/Mississippi
US_MT
United States/Montana
US_NC
United States/North Carolina
US_ND
United States/North Dakota
US_NE
United States/Nebraska
US_NH
United States/New Hampshire
US_NJ
United States/New Jersey
US_NM
United States/New Mexico
US_NV
United States/Nevada
US_NY
United States/New York
US_OH
United States/Ohio
US_OK
United States/Oklahoma
US_OR
United States/Oregon
US_PA
United States/Pennsylvania
US_RI
United States/Rhode Island
US_SC
United States/South Carolina
US_SD
United States/South Dakota
US_TN
United States/Tennessee
US_TX
United States/Texas
US_UT
United States/Utah
US_VA
United States/Virginia
US_VT
United States/Vermont
US_WA
United States/Washington
US_WI
United States/Wisconsin
US_WV
United States/West Virginia
US_WY
United States/Wyoming
UY
Uruguay
UZ
Uzbekistan
VC
St Vincent and Grenadines
VE
Venezuela
VG
British Virgin Islands
VI
U.S. Virgin Islands
VN
Viet Nam
VU
Vanuatu
WF
Wallis and Futuna Islands
WS
Samoa
YE
Yemen
YT
Mayotte
YU
Serbia and Montenegro
ZA
South Africa
ZM
Zambia
ZW
Zimbabwe

--bahai-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Bahá'ì calendar. See Calendar option --bahai-holidays, for further details.
--chinese-flexible-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Chinese calendar, that is determined in a flexible manner. See Calendar option --chinese-flexible-holidays, for further details.
--chinese-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Chinese calendar. See Calendar option --chinese-holidays, for further details.
--coptic-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Coptic calendar (only for dates after AD 283).
--ethiopic-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Ethiopic calendar.
--french-revolutionary-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the French Revolutionary calendar (only for dates after AD 1791).
--hebrew-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Hebrew calendar.
--indian-civil-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the civil Indian calendar (only for dates after AD 1956).
--islamic-civil-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the civil Islamic calendar. See Calendar option --islamic-civil-holidays, for further details.
--japanese-flexible-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Japanese calendar, that is determined in a flexible manner. See Calendar option --japanese-flexible-holidays, for further details.
--japanese-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Japanese calendar. See Calendar option --japanese-holidays, for further details.
--old-armenic-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Old-Armenic calendar (only for dates after AD 551).
--old-egyptic-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Old-Egyptic calendar.
--persian-jalaali-months
Provide the eternal holiday list additionally with the starting dates of the common and leap months, as they result from the Persian Jalaali calendar. See Calendar option --persian-jalaali-holidays, for further details.
-i[-]
--type=special|standard
To obtain the standard calendar format2, either start Gcal omitting the -i[-] option because it is set by default, Aspects in Internationalization, or start Gcal with the -i- respectively --type=standard option: 
          

          $ gcal -i-
          -|
          -|    September 1994
          -| 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

To obtain the special calendar format, start Gcal with the -i respectively --type=special option: 

          

          $ gcal -i
          -|
          -| September 1994
          -|
          -| Sunday          4 11 18 25
          -| Monday          5 12 19 26
          -| Tuesday         6 13 20 27
          -| Wednesday       7 14 21 28
          -| Thursday     1  8 15 22 29
          -| Friday       2  9 16 23 30
          -| Saturday     3 10 17 24

-O
--orthodox-calendar
Use the leap year rule as used by the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Without specifying the --orthodox-calendar option, Gcal is unable to display Gregorian years later than 2799 in the correct way for the Eastern churches, because they use a different scheme for calculating the leap years. The method for computing leap years within the common Gregorian calendar, which Gcal uses by default, is as follows:

A leap year is any year which number can be divided by 4 without a remainder, and years ending in hundreds are no leap years unless they are divisible by 400.

But the Eastern Orthodox churches compute leap years within the Gregorian calendar by using another rule:

A leap year is any year which number can be divided by 4 without a remainder, and years ending in hundreds are leap years, if a remainder of 2 or 6 occurs when such a year is divided by 9.

The first difference therefore occurs in the year 2800 which is a leap year in the common Gregorian calendar, but an ordinary year only in the calendar as used by the Eastern Orthodox churches.

-K
--with-week-number
Provide the calendar sheet with week numbers. See Calendar option --starting-day=argument, Calendar option --iso-week-number=yes|no, and Aspects in Internationalization, for further details.
--iso-week-number=yes|no
Determine the type of week numbers which are used in the calendar sheet, in the fixed date list and by the %date actual date modifier. See Calendar option --starting-day=argument, and Aspects in Internationalization, for more details.
--iso-week-number=yes
The methods of the ISO-8601:1988 are used for detecting week numbers; this means a week starts on Mondays, and the first week of a year is the one which includes the first Thursday; equivalently, the one which includes the 4th January. This method is called ISO week number in the further context. If the starting day of the week is not set to Monday, the week numbers are not represented correctly in most cases. If you use this option, you should take care of setting Monday as the starting day of the week!
--iso-week-number=no
Weeks start on the respective starting day of the week, and the days in a new year that are preceding the first starting day of the week are in the last week of the previous year, respectively in week zero of the new year. This method is called standard week number in the further context.

-u
--suppress-calendar
Suppress output of calendar sheet explicitly.
-b number
--blocks=number
Set number of calendar sheet blocks (valid arguments: 1|2|3|4|6|12). The default number for the standard calendar format is -b4 respectively --blocks=4, and for the special calendar format -b 3 respectively --blocks=3. If this option is found, the program sees that a year calendar output is desired!
-b 1
--blocks=1
Displays one block with twelve months at a time.
-b 2
--blocks=2
Displays two blocks with six months at a time.
-b 3
--blocks=3
Displays three blocks with four months at a time.
-b 4
--blocks=4
Displays four blocks with three months at a time.
-b 6
--blocks=6
Displays six blocks with two months at a time.
-b 12
--blocks=12
Displays twelve blocks with one month at a time.

-j[b]
--calendar-dates=special|both
Use alternative date format in calendar sheet instead of the default standard format which displays the days of month in consecutive manner.
-j
--calendar-dates=special
Display the calendar sheet by using the special date format. This means, the days of year are displayed in consecutive manner instead of the days of month.
-jb
--calendar-dates=both
Display the calendar sheet by using both the standard date format and special date format.

-jn[b]
--holiday-dates=special|both
Use alternative date format in eternal holiday list instead of the default standard format which displays the days of month in consecutive manner. See Calendar option --holiday-list[=long|short].
-jn
--holiday-dates=special
Display the eternal holiday list by using the special date format. This means, the days of year are displayed in consecutive manner instead of the days of month.
-jnb
--holiday-dates=both
Display the eternal holiday list by using both the standard date format and special date format.

-jc[b]
--fixed-dates=special|both
Use alternative date format in fixed date list instead of the default standard format which displays the days of month in consecutive manner. See Fixed date option --list-of-fixed-dates[=short|long].
-jc
--fixed-dates=special
Display the fixed date list by using the special date format. This means, the days of year are displayed in consecutive manner instead of the days of month.
-jcb
--fixed-dates=both
Display the fixed date list by using both the standard date format and special date format.

-s argument
--starting-day=argument
Set the starting day of the week (valid argument: 0, 1...7 | today | weekday name).

For example: 

          --starting-day=Sunday or
          --starting-day=7 or
          -s SUNDAY or
          -s sund or
          -sSu or
          -s 7

thus all specifies the Sunday (1==Mon, 2==Tue ... 7==Sun).

If the -s today option (or --starting-day=today) or the -s 0 option (or --starting-day=0) is given, the starting day of the week is set to the actual weekday as it is delivered by the system date. See Aspects in Internationalization, for more details.

--time-offset=argument
Change the base time of the astronomical functions (valid argument: t|@|[t|@][+|-]mmmm|hh:[mm]).

If no --time-offset=argument option is given, the astronomical data that is inserted into the eternal holiday list by the --astronomical-holidays option (see Calendar option --astronomical-holidays), and all Sun and Moon related special texts are always calculated for 0 o'clock Universal time (UTC/GMT), thus civil midnight time.

See Sun data, and Moon data, likewise Moon phase, for further information.

The argument is either the ‘t’ or the ‘@’ character —where ‘t’ means a relation to the actual local time3 and ‘@’ denotes a relation to the actual Universal time—, or one of these characters followed by a displacement value, or only a displacement value which has to be specified either by using the [+|-]mmmm format or the [+|-]hh:[mm] format. [+|-]mmmm adds respectively subtracts the specified amount of minutes mmmm from the base time value 0 o'clock Universal time (range 0...9999), while [+|-]hh:[mm] adds respectively subtracts the given amount of hours hh (range 0...99) and minutes mm (range 0...59) from the base time value 0 o'clock Universal time. The displacement value is always added to the base time value 0 o'clock Universal time in case it is specified without a +|- sign.

For example, the --time-offset=+1: option causes that while displaying eternal holiday lists and fixed date lists, the time 0 o'clock of the timezone GMT-1 (== CET) is used as the base time by the astronomical functions instead of the base time 0 o'clock Universal time (== GMT).

For example, the --time-offset=t-2: option causes that while displaying eternal holiday lists and fixed date lists, the time that is two hours earlier than the actual local time is used as the base time by the astronomical functions instead of the base time 0 o'clock Universal time (== GMT). For such a kind of relation, the term relative time offset value will be used in the further context.

--transform-year=argument
Change the base year of calendar (valid argument: -9999...[+]9999).

For example, the --transform-year=-543 option causes that while displaying calendar sheets, eternal holiday lists and fixed date lists, the year 543 BC is used as the base year of the calendar instead of the year AD 1. This results in the case that —for example— for the year 1999 (Christian era), the year number 1999 is not used in the above mentioned outputs, but the year number 2542 which is used in the western oriented Thai calendar.

Nevertheless, Gcal does not respect the --transform-year=argument option when using the actual date modifier %date (see Actual date modifier), the commands (see Commands), and the fixed date entries in a resource file (see Date part of a line). There, all references made to a definite year are always treated in the way that the year AD 1 is the base year of the calendar, so in fact it is only possible to use references based on the Christian era.

--gregorian-reform=1582|1700|1752|1753|argument
Set the period which was skipped during the Gregorian Reformation. By default, Gcal runs in the hybrid calendar mode, i.e. Gcal automatically changes from the Julian calendar system to the Gregorian calendar system if output is related to dates after the Gregorian Reformation has happened. See Aspects in Internationalization, for more details. Actually, four fixed default periods are supported, and that of the year 1582, of the year 1700, of the year 1752 and of the year 1753.

If Gcal is called with the --gregorian-reform=1582 option, it assumes the Gregorian Reformation has occurred from 5th till 14th October 1582.

If Gcal is called with the --gregorian-reform=1700 option, it assumes the Gregorian Reformation has occurred from 19th till 28th February 1700.

If Gcal is called with the --gregorian-reform=1752 option, it assumes the Gregorian Reformation has occurred from 3rd till 13th September 1752.

If Gcal is called with the --gregorian-reform=1753 option, it assumes the Gregorian Reformation has occurred from 18th till 28th February 1753.

In case another period shall be respected, it can be arranged by the option argument like ‘yyyyy,mm,first-day,last-day’. If the Gregorian Reformation has occurred for example on the 7th till the 17th April 1802, this can be arranged as follows: 

          --gregorian-reform=1802,4,7,17

Gcal is able to represent so-called proleptic calendars of a definite calendar system. This means, Gcal only uses a definite calendar system during a definite period, although there was a change to another calendar system in the historic reality during this definite period. The following proleptic calendar systems are actually supported by Gcal:

Please note that it is possible to corrupt the calendars likewise the fixed date feature logically (which works correctly now for the year in which the Gregorian Reformation has occurred) if the argument of the --gregorian-reform option is not used with care.

--date-format=de|us|gb|text
Set the date format which affects the ordering and representation of a displayed date. See Aspects in Internationalization, for more details. The date format text is respected by Gcal in the eternal holiday list, in the fixed date list and the calendar sheets. Moreover, Gcal internally tries to obtain the best representation of a displayed date in case the day-of-year numbers instead of the day-of-month numbers must be displayed, or both types of numbers are used in a combined manner.

Actually, three fixed default date formats are supported, and that for German users, U.S. American users and for users in Great Britain.

If Gcal is called with the --date-format=de option,
the ‘%<2#K,  %1%>2*D%2 %<3#U %>04*Y’ date format text is used. This result in that a date is displayed by using the ‘ww,  dd mmm yyyy’ ordering, for example ‘Sa,  28 Aug 1999’.

If Gcal is called with the --date-format=us option,
the ‘%<3#K, %<3#U  %1%>2&*D%2 %>04*Y’ date format text is used. This result in that a date is displayed by using the ‘www, mmm  dd yyyy’ ordering, for example ‘Sat, Aug  28th 1999’.

If Gcal is called with the --date-format=gb option,
the ‘%<3#K,  %1%>2&*D%2 %<3#U %>04*Y’ date format text is used. This result in that a date is displayed by using the ‘www,  dd mmm yyyy’ ordering, for example ‘Sat,  28th Aug 1999’.

In case another format text shall be respected, this format text can either be set in the GCAL_DATE_FORMAT environment variable5, or it can be arranged by the option argument text. For example, ‘--date-format='%Y %D %>02*M ; %1(%>5u#K)%2'’ displays a date by using the ‘[[[y]y]y]y [d]d mm ; (wwwww)’ ordering, thus for example ‘1999 28 08 ; (SATUR)’. See Environment Variable GCAL_DATE_FORMAT, for further information.

The format text may contain on the one hand all characters which can be managed by Gcal, and on the other hand character replacement instructions and format elements which are transformed into their according values at run-time. Some format elements may have a format instruction which is called format in the further context. See Format Instruction, for the detailed description of the format instruction and its components.

A minimum date format text must contain the following format elements minimum:

The day number, one component of the month group, the year number and both components of the highlighting group.

A weekday name format element may be included optionally into the date format text. The following format elements and character replacement instructions are currently supported:

%[format]D
Day number (must be defined)
%[format]Y
Year number (must be defined)
%[format]K
Weekday name (may be defined)

Month group (exactly one member must be defined):

%[format]M
Month number
%[format]U
Month name

Highlighting group (all members must be defined and %1 must be specified before %2):

%1
Start of highlighting sequence / marking character
%2
End of highlighting sequence / marking character

Character replacement instructions:

_
Space/blank character ‘ ’
\_
Underscore character ‘_’
\%
Percent character ‘%’
\\
Backslash character ‘\’

See Table of Obsolete Date Formats, and Table of Obsolete Date Format Elements, for further information.

--translate-string=text
Define the country specific special character pairs which are respected or translated by a style format instruction component, respectively. See Format Instruction, for the detailed description of the format instruction and its components. The country specific special character pairs are arranged by the text option argument as a sequence of single character pairs, and that in any number and order. The upper-case representation of the country specific special character has to be specified at first, and after that its lower-case representation. Country specific special characters which do not have an upper-case resp., lower-case representation in the character set used, like e.g. the ‘ß’-character which is very usual in the German character set, are also specified as a special character pair (here: ‘ßß’), otherwise these special characters are not recognized and they are converted incorrectly by the style format instruction component. In case the lower-case representation of the country specific special character is specified at first, and after that its upper-case representation, this option does not cause any further affects to the style format instruction component; resulting, the country specific special characters specified are not recognized as such and they remain untranslated therefore.

For example, a ‘ÄäÖöÜüßß’ option argument causes the correct conversion of the preceding special characters in an individual date format, which has a style format instruction component, and that, how they are used by the character set used in Germany.

Footnotes

[1] ISO is the abbreviation of International Organization for Standardization.

[2] Similar the BSD-cal program.

[3] The time which is set as system time in the computer's clock.

[4] The automatical conversion into the according Julian date is always done if the actual system date, that is based on the Gregorian calendar, is before the date of the Gregorian Reformation.

[5] But GCAL_DATE_FORMAT is only used in case no --date-format=de|us|gb|text option is given.