lpr

Remote printing utility

Syntax:

lpr [-#num] [-1234font] [-cdfghlmnprstv] [-C class] 
    [-p [-T title] [-wnum]] [-i [numcols]] [-J job] 
    [-Pprinter] [-U user]  [filename...]

Options:

-#num

Number of copies desired of each file named. For example:

lpr -#3 foo.c bar.c more.c 
      

results in three copies of the file foo.c, followed by three copies of the file bar.c, etc. On the other hand:

cat foo.c bar.c more.c | lpr -#3
      

gives three copies of the concatenation of the files. Often a site disables this feature to encourage use of a photocopier instead.

-[1234]font

Specifies a font to be mounted on font position i.

-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) to be replaced on the burst page by EECS, and the foo.c file to be printed.

-c

The files are assumed to contain data produced by cifplot(1).

-d

The files are assumed to contain data from tex.

-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.

-h

Suppress the printing of the burst page.

-i [numcols]

The output is indented. If the next argument is numeric (numcols), it is used as the number of blanks to be printed before each line; otherwise, 8 characters are printed.

-J job

Job name to print on the burst page. Normally, the first file's name is used.

-l

Use a filter which allows control characters to be printed and suppresses page breaks.

-m

Send mail upon completion.

-n

The files are assumed to contain data from ditroff.

-Pprinter

Force output to a specific printer. Normally, the default printer is used (site dependent), or the value of the environment variable PRINTER is used.

-p

Use the standard pr default to format the files. Optionally, you can change the title or width with these options:

-T title

Title name for pr (instead of the filename).

-wnum

Uses num as the page width for pr.

-r

Remove the file upon completion.

-s

Use symbolic links.

-t

The files are assumed to contain data from troff.

-U user

User name to print on the burst page, also for accounting purposes. This option is honored only if the real userid is daemon (or that specified in the /etc/printcap file instead of daemon), and is intended for those instances where print filters wish to requeue jobs.

-v

The files are assumed to contain a raster image.

filename

Name of file to print.

Description:

The lpr utility uses the spooling daemon lpd to print the named files when facilities become available. If no names appear, the standard input is assumed.

Diagnostics

If a user other than root prints a file and spooling is disabled, lpr prints a message saying so and won't put jobs in the queue.

If a connection to lpd on the local machine can't be made, lpr says that the daemon can't be started.

Environment variables:

If the following environment variable exists, it's used by lpr:

PRINTER

Specifies an alternate default printer.

DONT_USE_LINK_UNLINK

Use rename() instead of link() or unlink().

Caveats:

If you try to spool a file that's too large, it'll be truncated.

Diagnostics may be printed in the daemon's log file regarding missing spool files by lpd.

See also:

lpd, lprc, lprq, lprrm

pr in the QNX OS Utilities Reference

/etc/printcap file