lpq(1) lpq(1)
NAME
lpq - Examines the spool queues.
SYNOPSIS
lpq [+] [number] [-l] [-Pprinter] [request-ID...] [user...]
OPTIONS
-l Displays information about each of the files comprising the printer
request.
-Pprinter
Specifying printer displays requests queued for that printer only.
+[number]
Displays the spool queue until it empties. Sleeps number seconds
between scans of the queue if number is specified.
DESCRIPTION
The lpq command examines the spooling area used by lpd for printing files
on the line printer and reports the status of the specified requests or all
requests associated with a user.
The lpq command invoked without any arguments reports on any requests
currently in the queue. The -P option can be used to specify a particular
printer; otherwise, the default line printer is used (or the value of the
PRINTER environment variable).
Specifying one or more request-IDs displays only the specified requests.
Specifying one or more users displays print requests from those users only.
If you specify the + argument, lpq displays the spool queue until it emp-
ties. Supplying a number immediately after the + argument indicates that
lpq should sleep number seconds in between scans of the queue. All other
arguments supplied are interpreted as user or request-ID arguments to
display only those requests of interest.
For each request submitted (that is, each request invoked by lp or lpr),
lpq reports the user's name, current rank in the queue, the names of files
comprising the request, the request ID (a number that you can use to iden-
tify the request to other commands, such as lprm) and the total size of the
job in bytes.
The -l option causes information about each of the files comprising the
request to be displayed; without it, only as much information as will fit
on one line is displayed. Job ordering depends on the algorithm used to
scan the spooling directory and is supposed to be FIFO (First In First
Out). Filenames comprising a request might be unavailable (when lp or lpr
is used as a sink in a pipeline), in which case the file is indicated as
follows:
standard input
NOTES
Due to the dynamic nature of the information in the spooling directory, lpq
might report unreliably. Output formatting is sensitive to the line length
of the terminal and can result in widely spaced columns.
DIAGNOSTICS
Appropriate diagnostic messages appear under several conditions:
+ If there is no daemon active, but there are files in the spooling
directory, the message Warning: no daemon present is displayed.
+ If the network is unreachable, the message connection to device is
down is displayed.
+ If the printcap file is unavailable, the message lpq: device cannot
open printer description file is displayed.
+ If the spooling directory is unavailable, the message lpq: device can-
not chdir to spooling directory is displayed.
EXAMPLES
To display a request in the print queue, enter:
lpq -Pprinter1
This command displays a list similar to the following:
Mon March 2 15:15:15 1990: printer1 is ready and printing
Rank Pri Owner Job Files Total Size
active 0 rcb 888 massachusetts 1024 bytes
1st 0 jmp 110 berkshire 2048 bytes
(Output may be formatted differently on your system.)
An appropriate message is displayed if the lock file is malformed.
FILES
/usr/share/lib/termcap
Manipulates the screen for repeated display.
/etc/printcap
Printer description file.
/var/spool/*
Spool directories.
/var/spool/*/cf*
Daemon control files.
/var/spool/*/df*
Data files specified in cf files.
/var/spool/*/tf*
Temporary copies of cf files.
/var/spool/*/lock
Lock file used to obtain the process ID of the current daemon and the
request ID of the currently active request.
SEE ALSO
Commands: lp(1), lpc(8), lpd(8), lpr(1), lprm(1), lpstat(1)