NAME
lpq —
spool queue examination
program
SYNOPSIS
lpq |
[-al]
[-P
printer]
[-w
maxwait]
[job# ...]
[user ...] |
DESCRIPTION
lpq examines the spooling area used by
lpd(8) for printing files on the
line printer, and reports the status of the specified jobs or all jobs
associated with a user.
lpq invoked without any arguments
reports on any jobs currently in the queue.
Options:
-
-
- -P
- Specify a particular printer, otherwise the default line
printer is used (or the value of the
PRINTER
variable in the environment). All other arguments supplied are interpreted
as user names or job numbers to filter out only those jobs of
interest.
-
-
- -l
- Information about each of the files comprising the job
entry is printed. Normally, only as much information as will fit on one
line is displayed.
-
-
- -a
- Report on the local queues for all printers, rather than
just the specified printer.
-
-
- -w
maxwait
- Specify the maximum time to wait in seconds for remote
responses. The default is 300 seconds or 5 minutes.
For each job submitted (i.e. invocation of
lpr(1))
lpq
reports the user's name, current rank in the queue, the names of files
comprising the job, the job identifier (a number which may be supplied to
lprm(1) for removing a specific
job), and the total size in bytes. Job ordering is dependent on the algorithm
used to scan the spooling directory and is supposed to be FIFO (First in First
Out). File names comprising a job may be unavailable (when
lpr(1) is used as a sink in a
pipeline) in which case the file is indicated as ``(standard input)''.
If
lpq warns that there is no daemon present (i.e. due to some
malfunction), the
lpc(8) command
can be used to restart the printer daemon.
ENVIRONMENT
If the following environment variable exists, it is used by
lpq:
-
-
PRINTER
- Specifies an alternative default printer.
FILES
- /etc/printcap
- To determine printer characteristics.
- /var/spool/output/*
- The spooling directory, as determined from printcap.
- /var/spool/output/*/cf*
- Control files specifying jobs.
- /var/spool/output/*/lock
- The lock file to obtain the currently active job.
DIAGNOSTICS
Unable to open various files. The lock file being malformed. Garbage files when
there is no daemon active, but files in the spooling directory.
SEE ALSO
lpr(1),
lprm(1),
lpc(8),
lpd(8)
HISTORY
lpq appeared in
3BSD.
BUGS
Due to the dynamic nature of the information in the spooling directory
lpq may report unreliably. Output formatting is sensitive to
the line length of the terminal; this can result in widely spaced
columns.