lpr(1) UNIX System V(BSD Compatibility Package) lpr(1)
NAME
lpr - send a job to the printer
SYNOPSIS
/usr/ucb/lpr [ -P printer ] [ -# copies ] [ -C class ] [ -J job ] [ -T
title ]
[ -i [ indent ] ] [ -w cols ] [ -B ] [ -r ] [ -m ] [ -h ] [ -s ]
[ -filter_option ] [ filename . . . ]
DESCRIPTION
lpr forwards printer jobs to a spooling area for subsequent printing as
facilities become available. Each printer job consists of copies of, or,
with -s , complete pathnames of each filename you specify. The spool
area is managed by the line printer spooler, lpsched. lpr reads from the
standard input if no files are specified.
OPTIONS
-P printer Send output to the named printer. Otherwise send output
to the printer named in the PRINTER environment variable,
or to the default printer, lp.
-# copies Produce the number of copies indicated for each named
file. For example:
lpr -#3 index.c lookup.c
produces three copies of index.c, followed by three copies
of lookup.c. On the other hand,
cat index.c lookup.c | lpr -#3
generates three copies of the concatenation of the files.
-C class Print class as the job classification on the burst page.
For example,
lpr -C Operations new.index.c
replaces the system name (the name returned by hostname)
with Operations on the burst page, and prints the file
new.index.c.
-J job Print job as the job name on the burst page. Normally,
lpr uses the first file's name.
-T title Use title instead of the file name for the title used by
pr(1).
-i[indent] Indent output indent SPACE characters. Eight SPACE
characters is the default.
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lpr(1) UNIX System V(BSD Compatibility Package) lpr(1)
-w cols Use cols as the page width for pr.
-r Remove the file upon completion of spooling, or upon
completion of printing with the -s option. This is not
supported in the SunOS compatibility package. However if
the job is submitted to a remote SunOS system, these
options will be sent to the remote system for processing.
-m Send mail upon completion.
-h Suppress printing the burst page.
-s Use the full pathnames (not symbolic links) of the files
to be printed rather than trying to copy them. This means
the data files should not be modified or removed until
they have been printed. -s only prevents copies of local
files from being made. Jobs from remote hosts are copied
anyway. -s only works with named data files; if the lpr
command is at the end of a pipeline, the data is copied to
the spool.
filter_option The following single letter options notify the line
printer spooler that the files are not standard text
files. The spooling daemon will use the appropriate
filters to print the data accordingly.
-p Use pr to format the files (lpr -p is very much like
pr | lpr).
-l Print control characters and suppress page breaks.
-t The files contain troff(1) (cat phototypesetter)
binary data.
-n The files contain data from ditroff (device
independent troff).
-d The files contain data from tex (DVI format from
Stanford).
-g The files contain standard plot data as produced by
the plot(3X) routines (see also plot(1G) for the
filters used by the printer spooler).
-v The files contain a raster image. The printer must
support an appropriate imaging model such as
PostScript® in order to print the image.
-c The files contain data produced by cifplot.
-f Interpret the first character of each line as a
standard FORTRAN carriage control character.
If no filter_option is given (and the printer can
interpret PostScript), the string `%!' as the first two
characters of a file indicates that it contains PostScript
commands.
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lpr(1) UNIX System V(BSD Compatibility Package) lpr(1)
These filter options offer a standard user interface, and
all options may not be available for, nor applicable to,
all printers.
FILES
/etc/passwd personal identification
/usr/lib/lp/lpsched System V line printer spooler
/var/spool/lp/tmp/* directories used for spooling
/var/spool/lp/tmp/system/*-0
spooler control files
/var/spool/lp/tmp/system/*-N
(N is an integer and > 0) data files specified in
`*-0' files
DIAGNOSTICS
lpr: printer: unknown printer
The printer was not found in the LP database. Usually this is a
typing mistake; however, it may indicate that the printer does not
exist on the system. Use `lptstat -p' to find the reason.
lpr: error on opening queue to spooler
The connection to lpsched on the local machine failed. This
usually means the printer server started at boot time has died or
is hung. Check if the printer spooler daemon /usr/lib/lpsched is
running.
lpr: printer: printer queue is disabled
This means the queue was turned off with
/usr/etc/lpc disable printer
to prevent lpr from putting files in the queue. This is normally
done by the system manager when a printer is going to be down for a
long time. The printer can be turned back on by a privileged user
with lpc.
lpr: Can't send message to the LP print service
lpr: Can't receive message from the LP print service
These indicate that the LP print service has been stopped. Get
help from the system administrator.
lpr: Received unexpected message from LP print service
It is likely there is an error in this software. Get help from
system administrator.
lpr: There is no filter to convert the file content
Use the `lpstat -p -l' command to find a printer that can handle
the file type directly, or consult with your system administrator.
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lpr(1) UNIX System V(BSD Compatibility Package) lpr(1)
lpr: cannot access the file
Make sure file names are valid.
SEE ALSO
lpc(8), lpq(1), lprm(1), plot(1G), troff(1)
plot(3X) in the Programmer's Reference Manual
lpsched(1) in the System Administrator's Reference Manual
lp(1), pr(1) in the User's Reference Manual
NOTES
lp is the preferred interface.
Command-line options cannot be combined into a single argument as with
some other commands. The command:
lpr -fs
is not equivalent to
lpr -f -s
Placing the -s flag first, or writing each option as a separate argument,
makes a link as expected.
lpr -p is not precisely equivalent to pr | lpr. lpr -p puts the current
date at the top of each page, rather than the date last modified.
Fonts for troff(1) and TEX® reside on the printer host. It is currently
not possible to use local font libraries.
lpr objects to printing binary files.
The -s option, intended to use symbolic links in SunOS, does not use
symbolic links in the compatibility package. Instead, the complete path
names are used. Also, the copying is avoided only for print jobs that
are run from the printer host itself. Jobs added to the queue from a
remote host are always copied into the spool area. That is, if the
printer does not reside on the host that lpr is run from, the spooling
system makes a copy the file to print, and places it in the spool area of
the printer host, regardless of -s.
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