lpq(1) General Commands Manual lpq(1)
NAME
lpq - Examines the spool queues.
SYNOPSIS
lpq [+] [number] [-l] [-Pprinter] [request-ID...] [user...]
OPTIONS
Displays information about each of the files comprising the printer request. Specifying printer displays requests queued for that printer
only. 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 par-
ticular 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 empties. Supplying a number immediately after the + argument indi-
cates 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 identify 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 direc-
tory, the message Warning: no daemon present is displayed. If the network is unreachable, the message connection to device is down is dis-
played. 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 cannot 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
Manipulates the screen for repeated display. Printer description file. Spool directories. Daemon control files. Data files specified in
cf files. Temporary copies of cf files. 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)
lpq(1)