lprm(1) —
NAME
lprm − remove jobs from the line printer spooling queue
SYNOPSIS
lprm [ −Pprinter ] [ − ] [ job # ... ] [ user ... ]
DESCRIPTION
lprm removes a job, or jobs, from a printer’s spool queue. Since the spooling directory is protected from users, using lprm is normally the only method by which a user may remove a job.
lprm without any arguments deletes the currently active job if it is owned by the user who invoked lprm.
If the − flag is specified, lprm removes all jobs that a user owns. If the superuser employs this flag, the spool queue is emptied entirely. The owner is determined by the user’s login name and the host name of the machine where the lpr command was invoked.
Specifying a user’s name, or list of user names, causes lprm to attempt to remove any jobs queued that belong to that user (or users). This form of invoking lprm is useful only to the superuser.
A user may remove an individual job from the queue by specifying its job number. This number may be obtained from the lpq(1) program. For example:
% lpq −l
1st: ken[job #013ucbarpa]
(standard input)100 bytes
% lprm 13
lprm announces the names of any files it removes and is silent if there are no jobs in the queue that match the request list.
lprm kills off an active daemon, if necessary, before removing any spooling files. If a daemon is killed, a new one is automatically restarted upon completion of file removals.
The −P option may be used to specify the queue associated with a specific printer; otherwise the default printer (or the value of the PRINTER variable in the environment) is used.
FILES
/etc/printcapprinter characteristics file
/usr/spool/*spooling directories
/usr/spool/*/lock lock file used to obtain the pid of the current daemon
and the job number of the currently active job
SEE ALSO
lpd(1M), lpq(1), lpr(1). “Line Printer Spooler Manual.”
DIAGNOSTICS
“Permission denied” if the user tries to remove files other than his own.
BUGS
Since there are race conditions possible in the update of the lock file, the currently active job may be incorrectly identified.
\*U — Version 1.0