NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpq - spool queue examination program

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpq [-al] [-Pprinter] [job# ...] [user ...]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     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.

     The options are as follows:

     -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.

     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    [Toc]    [Back]

     If  the following environment variable exists, it is used by
lpq:

     PRINTER  Specifies an alternate default printer.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /etc/printcap             To determine printer  characteristics.
     /var/spool/*               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    [Toc]    [Back]

     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    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpr(1), lprm(1), lpc(8), lpd(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpq appeared in 3BSD.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     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.

OpenBSD     3.6                          April      28,      1995