Manual page for LPQ(1)
lpq - display the queue of printer jobs
SYNOPSIS
lpq
[
-Pprinter
] [
-l
] [
+
[
interval
] ] [
job#
...
] [
username
...
]
DESCRIPTION
lpq
displays the contents of a printer queue. It reports the status of
jobs specified by
job#,
or all jobs owned by the user specified by
username.
lpq
reports on all jobs in the default printer queue when invoked with no
arguments.
For each print job in the queue,
lpq
reports the user's name, current position, the names of input
files comprising the job, the job number (by which it is
referred to when using
lprm.1
and the total size in bytes.
Normally, only as much information as will fit on one line
is displayed. Jobs are normally queued on a first-in-first-out basis.
Filenames comprising a job may be unavailable, such as when
lpr
is used at the end of a pipeline; in such cases the filename field
indicates ``(standard input)''.
If
lpq
warns that there is no daemon present
(that is, due to some malfunction), the
lpc.8
command can be used to restart a printer daemon.
OPTIONS
- -P printer
-
Display information about the queue for the specified
printer.
In the absence of the
-P
option, the queue to the printer specified by the
PRINTER
variable in the environment is used. If the
PRINTER
variable isn't set, the queue for the default printer is used.
- -l
-
Display queue information in long format; includes the name of
the host from which the job originated.
- +[
interval
]
-
Display the spool queue periodically until it empties. This option
clears the terminal screen before reporting on the queue. If an
interval
is supplied,
lpq
sleeps that number of seconds in between reports.
FILES
- /etc/termcap
-
for manipulating the screen for repeated display
- /etc/printcap
-
to determine printer characteristics
- /var/spool/l*
-
spooling directory, as determined from printcap
- /var/spool/l*/cf*
-
control files specifying jobs
- /var/spool/l*/lock
-
lock file to obtain the currently active job
SEE ALSO
lpr.1
lprm.1
lpc.8
lpd.8
DIAGNOSTICS
- printer is ready and printing
-
The
lpq
program checks to see if there is a printer daemon.
If the daemon is hung, the super-user can
abort the current daemon and start a new one using
lpc.8
- Waiting for printer to become ready (offline ?)
-
The daemon could not open the printer device. The printer may be
turned off-line. This message can also occur if a printer is out
of paper, the paper is jammed, and so on. Another possible cause is
that a process, such as an output filter, has exclusive use of the
device. The only recourse in this case is to kill the offending
process and restart the printer with
lpc.
- waiting for host to come up
-
A daemon is trying to connect to the remote machine named
host,
in order to send the files in the local queue.
If the remote machine is up,
lpd
on the remote machine is probably dead or
hung and should be restarted using
lpc.
- sending to host
-
The files are being transferred to the remote
host,
or else the local daemon has hung while trying to transfer the
files.
- Warning: printer is down
-
The printer has been marked as being unavailable with
lpc.
- Warning: no daemon present
-
The
lpd
process
overseeing
the spooling queue, as indicated in the ``lock'' file
in that directory, does not exist. This normally occurs
only when the daemon has unexpectedly died. Check the printer's
error log for a diagnostic from the deceased process; you can
restart the printer daemon with
lpc.
BUGS
lpq
may report unreliably. The status as
reported may
not always reflect the actual state of the printer.
Under some circumstances,
lpq
reports that a printer is ready and printing when the daemon is,
in fact, hung.
Output formatting is sensitive to the line length of the terminal;
this can result in widely-spaced columns.
lpq
is sometimes unable to open various files when the
lock file is malformed.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97