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printcap(4)
NAME
printcap - Printer capability data base
SYNOPSIS
/etc/printcap
DESCRIPTION
The printcap file is used to describe printer characteristics. The format
of the printcap file is a simplified version of the /etc/termcap database
format.
The lpd line printer daemon accesses the /etc/printcap file every time a
file is passed to the spooler for printing. The print spooling system uses
the printcap file to obtain information about each printer attached to the
system and about remote printers. Each entry in the printcap file
describes a single printer.
When the local line printer driver supports indentation, the lpd line
printer daemon must understand how to invoke this capability.
The default printer for your system usually has the device reference lp,
although environment variable PRINTER can be used to override the default
printer reference. The print commands (for example, lpr, lpq, and lprm)
support the -Pprinter option, which enables you to specify a specific
printer.
Printer Characteristic Symbols
Each printer has various characteristics that tell the lpd line printer
daemon how to communicate with the printing device defined in the /dev
directory. A table in this section lists the printer characteristic symbols
and provides the following information for each:
Name The symbol, which is a 2-character mnemonic. The symbol must be
specified exactly as it appears in this column.
Type Type of data expressed by the entry as str, num, or bool. When
the characteristic defined by the symbol is referenced as a
string variable (str) in the Type column, it must be followed by
an = (equal sign) together with a string value; when you do not
define the string value, it either remains a NULL string and
contains no data or takes the value specified in the Default
column. When the Type column defines a symbol type as bool, it
may only be logically true (yes) or logically false (no).
When the parameter you define is a numerical variable, it must be
followed with a # (pound sign) together with the numerical value
you assign; when you do not define the numerical parameter it
takes the value specified in the Default column of the table.
Description
A summary of the printer characteristic that the symbol
specifies.
Symbols whose descriptions are followed by "(I18N)" are provided
to meet country-specific printing requirements. Refer to
i18n_printing(5) for information about when these symbols are
valid in a printer entry.
The following is an example of a printcap entry:
myprinter|lp0:\
:af=/usr/adm/lpacct:\
:br#9600:\
:ct=dev:\
:fc#0177777:\
:fs#023:\
:if=/usr/lbin/la75of:\
:lf=/usr/adm/lperr:\
:lp=/dev/tty00:\
:mx#0:\
:of=/usr/lbin/la75of:\
:pl#66:\
:pw#80:\
:sd=/usr/spool/lpd:\
:xc#0177777:\
:xf=/usr/lbin/xf:\
:xs#044000:
Entries can continue onto multiple lines by specifying the
backslash (\) as the last character of a line. Empty fields can
be included for readability (here between the last field on a
line and the first field on the next line).
Comments can be included on lines beginning with the pound sign
(#).
______________________________________________________________________________
Name Type Default Description
______________________________________________________________________________
af str NULL Name of accounting file
br num none
If lp is a tty, set the baud rate (ioctl call).
cf str NULL The cifplot data filter.
ct str dev
The connection type. Only valid when up=psv4.0.
The choices are: dev, LAT, and remote. (Required
for LAT printers.)
ct str LAT
Remote printing using LAT as the transport.
df str NULL The tex data filter (DVI format).
fc num 0
If lp is a tty, clear flag bits (sgtty.h).
ff str \f String to send for a form feed.
fo bool false Print a form feed when the device is opened.
fs num 0 Like fc, but set bits.
gf str NULL The graph data filter (plot format).
hl bool false Print the burst header page last.
ic bool false
Driver supports (non standard) ioctl to indent
printout.
if str NULL Name of text filter that does accounting.
lf str /dev/console Error logging filename.
lo str lock Name of lock file.
lp str /dev/lp
Device name to open for output. (Required for LAT
and remote printers.)
mx num 1000
Maximum file size (in BUFSIZ blocks). Zero =
unlimited.
nf str NULL
The ditroff data filter (for device independent
troff).
of str NULL Name of output filtering program.
pl num 66 Page length (in lines).
pw num 132 Page width (in columns).
px num 0 Page width in pixels (horizontal).
py num 0 Page length in pixels (vertical).
rf str NULL
Filter for printing FORTRAN style text files.
rm str NULL
Machine name for remote printer. (Required for
remote printers.)
rp str lp
Remote printer name argument. (Required for remote
printers.)
rs bool false Restrict remote users to those with local accounts.
rw bool false
Open the printer device for reading and writing.
sb bool false Short banner (one line only).
sc bool false Suppress multiple copies.
sd str /usr/spool/lpd
Spool directory. (Required for LAT and remote
printers.)
sf bool false Suppress form feeds.
sh bool false Suppress printing of burst page header.
st str status Status filename.
tf str NULL
The troff data filter (for the cat
phototypesetter).
tr str NULL
Trailer string to print when queue empties.
vf str NULL The raster image filter.
xc num 0
If lp is a tty, clear local mode bits (tty).
xf str NULL Pass-through filter.
xs num 0 Like xc, but set bits.
ya str NULL Additional parameters for print filter (I18N).
yd str NULL Secondary device name for font faulting (I18N).
yj str NULL Restart of for every job (I18N).
yp str NULL Printer ID conforming to Wototo standard (I18N).
ys num 0 Size of SoftODL character cache (I18N).
yt str "fifo" SoftODL character replacement strategy (I18N).
______________________________________________________________________________
When the local line printer driver supports indentation, the lpd line
printer daemon must understand how to invoke this capability.
LAT Printing Characteristics
The following table lists the LAT printing characteristics:
___________________________________________________________
Name Type Default Description
___________________________________________________________
ct str LAT Remote printing using LAT as the
transport.
lp str /dev/ttyWX
Device name to open for output
where WX is a LAT device.
___________________________________________________________
Filter and Flags
The lpd line printer daemon creates a pipeline of filters to process files
for various different printer device. The filters you select depend on the
flags that are passed to the lpr command. The pipeline setup is:
__________________________________
Flag Filter Description
__________________________________
none if regular text
-p pr | if regular text + pr
-c cf cifplot
-d df DVI (tex)
-g gf plot
-n nf ditroff
-f rf FORTRAN
-t tf troff
-v vf raster image
__________________________________
The if filter is invoked with arguments according to the following format:
if [-c] -wwidth -llength -iindent -nlogin -hhost acct-file
The xf pass-through filter is specified when output is preformatted and
does not require special filtering.
The -c flag is passed only when the -l flag (pass control-characters
literally) is specified to the lpr command. The -wwidth and -llength
parameters specify the page width and length (from the assigned or default
values of pw and pl respectively in the printcap file) in characters. The
-n and -h flags specify the login name and hostname of the owner of the
job, respectively. The acct-file is passed from the af entry in the
printcap file.
The if filter is opened for all individual jobs, which makes it suitable
for accounting. When the if filter is not specified, the system uses the of
filter as the default value. The of filter however, is opened only once and
is only given the -wwidth and -llength flags.
All other filters are called according to the following format:
filter -xwidth -ylength -nlogin -h host acct-file
In this format, -xwidth and -ylength are represented in pixels as specified
by the px and py entries, respectively, in the printcap file.
All filters take standard input (stdin) as the source file and standard
output (stdout) as the destination. The printer may log either to standard
error (stderr) or use syslogd, and must not ignore the SIGINT signal.
ERROR LOGGING
Error messages generated by the line printer programs (that is, the lp*
programs) are logged by syslogd using the lpr facility. Messages printed
on the stderr of one of the filters are sent to the corresponding lf file
specified in the printcap file. The filters may, of course, also use
syslogd.
Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line feed
appended to them, rather than just a line feed.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: lpq(1), lpr(1), lprm(1), lpc(8), lpd(8), lprsetup(8), pac(8)
Files: termcap(4)
Others: i18n_printing(5)
System Administration
Network Administration