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.

-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  photo-
     typesetter) 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  PostScriptr  in
     order to print the image.

-c   The files contain data produced by  cif-
     plot.
-f   Interpret the first  character  of  each
     line as a standard FORTRAN carriage con-
     trol 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.
     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.

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  T Xr  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.