NAME
lpr
- off line print
SYNOPSIS
lpr
[-cdfghlmnopqRrstv]
[-1234 font]
[-# num]
[-C class]
[-i numcols]
[-J job]
[-P printer]
[-T title]
[-U user]
[-w num]
[name ...]
DESCRIPTION
lpr
uses a spooling daemon to print the named files when facilities
become available.
If no names appear, the standard input is assumed.
The following single letter options are used to 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.
- -c
-
The files are assumed to contain data produced by
cifplot
- -d
-
The files are assumed to contain data from
tex
(DVI
format from Stanford).
- -f
-
Use a filter which interprets the first character of each line as a
standard
FORTRAN
carriage control character.
- -g
-
The files are assumed to contain standard plot data as produced by the
plot
routines (see also
plot
for the filters used by the printer spooler).
- -l
-
Use a filter which allows control characters to be printed and suppresses
page breaks.
- -n
-
The files are assumed to contain data from
ditroff
(device independent troff).
- -o
-
The files are assumed to be in postscript format.
- -p
-
Use
pr(1)
to format the files (equivalent to
print).
- -t
-
The files are assumed to contain data from
troff(1)
(cat phototypesetter commands).
- -v
-
The files are assumed to contain a raster image for devices like the
Benson Varian.
These options apply to the handling of
the print job:
- -h
-
Suppress the printing of the burst page.
- -m
-
Send mail upon completion.
- -P
-
Force output to a specific printer.
Normally, the default printer is used (site dependent), or the value
of the environment variable
PRINTER
is used.
- -q
-
Queue the print job but do not start the spooling daemon.
- -r
-
Remove the file upon completion of spooling or upon completion of
printing (with the
-s
option).
- -s
-
Use symbolic links.
Usually files are copied to the spool directory.
The
-s
option will use
symlink(2)
to link data files rather than trying to copy them so large files can be
printed.
This means the files should
not be modified or removed until they have been printed.
Normally
lpr
works silently except for diagnostic messages.
The following option changes this behavior.
- -R
-
Writes a message to standard output containing the unique number which
is used to identify this job.
This number can be used to cancel (see
lprm(1))
or find the status (see
lpq(1))
of the job.
The remaining options apply to copies, the page display, and headers:
- -#num
-
The quantity
num
is the number of copies desired of each file named.
For example,
-
lpr -#3 foo.c bar.c more.c
would result in 3 copies of the file foo.c, followed by 3 copies
of the file bar.c, etc.
On the other hand,
-
cat foo.c bar.c more.c | lpr -#3
will give three copies of the concatenation of the files.
Often a site will disable this feature to encourage use of a photocopier
instead.
- Xo
-
-1234[.blm Pp font]
Specifies a
font
to be mounted on font position
i.
The daemon
will construct a
.railmag
file referencing
the font pathname.
- -C class
-
Job classification
to use on the burst page.
For example,
-
lpr -C EECS foo.c
causes the system name (the name returned by
hostname(1))
to be replaced on the burst page by
EECS,
and the file foo.c to be printed.
- -i numcols
-
The output is indented by
(numcols).
- -J job
-
Job name to print on the burst page.
Normally, the first file's name is used.
- -T title
-
Title name for
pr(1),
instead of the file name.
- -U user
-
User name to print on the burst page,
also for accounting purposes.
This option is only honored if the real user-id is daemon
(or that specified in the printcap file instead of daemon),
and is intended for those instances where print filters wish to requeue jobs.
- -wnum
-
Uses
num
as the page width for
pr(1).
ENVIRONMENT
If the following environment variable exists, it is used by
:
PRINTER
-
Specifies an alternative default printer.
FILES
/etc/passwd
-
Personal identification.
/etc/printcap
-
Printer capabilities data base.
/usr/sbin/lpd
-
Line printer daemons.
/var/spool/output/*
-
Directories used for spooling.
/var/spool/output/*/cf*
-
Daemon control files.
/var/spool/output/*/df*
-
Data files specified in "cf" files.
/var/spool/output/*/tf*
-
Temporary copies of "cf" files.
DIAGNOSTICS
If you try to spool too large a file, it will be truncated.
lpr
will object to printing binary files.
If a user other than root prints a file and spooling is disabled,
lpr
will print a message saying so and will not put jobs in the queue.
If a connection to
lpd(8)
on the local machine cannot be made,
lpr
will say that the daemon cannot be started.
Diagnostics may be printed in the daemon's log file
regarding missing spool files by
lpd(8).
SEE ALSO
lpq(1),
lprm(1),
pr(1),
symlink(2),
printcap(5),
lpc(8),
lpd(8)
HISTORY
The
lpr
command appeared in
3BSD.
BUGS
Fonts for
troff(1)
and
tex
reside on the host with the printer.
It is currently not possible to use local font libraries.