Command-Line Printing and Options
CUPS provides both the System V ( lp(1)) and Berkeley ( lpr(1)) printing commands for printing files. In addition, it supported a large number of standard and printer-specific options that allow you to control how and where files are printed.
CUPS understands many different types of files directly, including text, PostScript, PDF, and image files. This allows you to print from inside your applications or at the command-line, whichever is most convenient! Type either of the following commands to print a file to the default (or only) printer on the system:
Many systems will have more than one printer available to the user. These printers can be attached to the local system via a parallel, serial, or USB port, or available over the network. Use the lpstat(1) command to see a list of available printers:
The -p option specifies that you want to see a list of printers, and the -d option reports the current default printer or class.
Use the -d option with the lp command to print to a specific printer:
or the -P option with the lpr command:
Both the lp and lpr commands support printing from the standard input:
program | lp program | lp -d printer program | lpr program | lpr -P printer
If the program does not provide any output, then nothing will be queued for printing.
For many types of files, the default printer options may be sufficient for your needs. However, there may be times when you need to change the options for a particular file you are printing.
The lp and lpr commands allow you to pass printer options using the -o option:
lp -o landscape -o fit-to-page -o media=A4 filename.jpg lpr -o landscape -o fit-to-page -o media=A4 filename.jpg
Saved options are supported in CUPS through printer instances. Printer instances are, as their name implies, copies of a printer that have certain options associated with them. Use the lpoptions command to create a printer instance:
lpoptions -p printer/instance -o name=value .
The -p printer/instance option provides the name of the instance, which is always the printer name, a slash, and the instance name which can contain any printable characters except space and slash. The remaining options are then associated with the instance instead of the main queue. For example, the following command creates a duplex instance of the LaserJet queue:
lpoptions -p LaserJet/duplex -o sides=two-sided-long-edge
Instances do not inherit lpoptions from the main queue.
Both the lp and lpr commands have options for printing more than one copy of a file:
lp -n num-copies filename lpr -#num-copies filename
Copies are normally not collated for you. Use the -o collate=true option to get collated copies:
lp -n num-copies -o collate=true filename lpr -#num-copies -o collate=true filename
The cancel(1) and lprm(1) commands cancel a print job:
The lpmove(8) command moves a print job to a new printer or class:
lpmove job-id destination
The job-id is the number that was reported to you by the lp or lpstat commands. Destination is the name of a printer or class that you want to actually print the job.
Note:
The lpmove command is located in the system command directory (typically /usr/sbin or /usr/local/sbin ), and so may not be in your command path. Specify the full path to the command if you get a «command not found» error, for example:
The following options apply when printing all types of files.
The -o media=xyz option sets the media size, type, and/or source:
lp -o media=Letter filename lp -o media=Letter,MultiPurpose filename lpr -o media=Letter,Transparency filename lpr -o media=Letter,MultiPurpose,Transparency filename
The available media sizes, types, and sources depend on the printer, but most support the following options (case is not significant):
- Letter — US Letter (8.5×11 inches, or 216x279mm)
- Legal — US Legal (8.5×14 inches, or 216x356mm)
- A4 — ISO A4 (8.27×11.69 inches, or 210x297mm)
- COM10 — US #10 Envelope (9.5×4.125 inches, or 241x105mm)
- DL — ISO DL Envelope (8.66×4.33 inches, or 220x110mm)
- Transparency — Transparency media type or source
- Upper — Upper paper tray
- Lower — Lower paper tray
- MultiPurpose — Multi-purpose paper tray
- LargeCapacity — Large capacity paper tray
When Custom is listed for the PageSize option, you can specify custom media sizes using one of the following forms:
lp -o media=Custom.WIDTHxLENGTH filename lp -o media=Custom.WIDTHxLENGTHin filename lp -o media=Custom.WIDTHxLENGTHcm filename lp -o media=Custom.WIDTHxLENGTHmm filename
where «WIDTH» and «LENGTH» are the width and length of the media in points, inches, centimeters, or millimeters, respectively.
lp -o landscape filename lpr -o landscape filename
- -o orientation-requested=3 — portrait orientation (no rotation)
- -o orientation-requested=4 — landscape orientation (90 degrees)
- -o orientation-requested=5 — reverse landscape or seascape orientation (270 degrees)
- -o orientation-requested=6 — reverse portrait or upside-down orientation (180 degrees)
The -o sides=two-sided-short-edge and -o sides=two-sided-long-edge options will enable two-sided printing on the printer if the printer supports it. The -o sides=two-sided-short-edge option is suitable for landscape pages, while the -o sides=two-sided-long-edge option is suitable for portrait pages:
lp -o sides=two-sided-short-edge filename lp -o sides=two-sided-long-edge filename lpr -o sides=two-sided-long-edge filename
The default is to print single-sided:
lp -o sides=one-sided filename lpr -o sides=one-sided filename
The -o job-sheets=start,end option sets the banner page(s) to use for a job:
lp -o job-sheets=none filename lp -o job-sheets=standard filename lpr -o job-sheets=classified,classified filename
If only one banner file is specified, it will be printed before the files in the job. If a second banner file is specified, it is printed after the files in the job.
The available banner pages depend on the local system configuration; CUPS includes the following banner files:
- none — Do not produce a banner page.
- classified — A banner page with a «classified» label at the top and bottom.
- confidential — A banner page with a «confidential» label at the top and bottom.
- secret — A banner page with a «secret» label at the top and bottom.
- standard — A banner page with no label at the top and bottom.
- topsecret — A banner page with a «top secret» label at the top and bottom.
- unclassified — A banner page with an «unclassified» label at the top and bottom.
- -o job-hold-until=indefinite ; print only after released by the user or an administrator
- -o job-hold-until=day-time ; print from 6am to 6pm local time
- -o job-hold-until=night ; print from 6pm to 6am local time
- -o job-hold-until=second-shift ; print from 4pm to 12am local time
- -o job-hold-until=third-shift ; print from 12am to 8am local time
- -o job-hold-until=weekend ; print on Saturday or Sunday
- -o job-hold-until=HH:MM ; print at the specified UTC time
Aside from the web interface, you can use the lp command to release a held job:
where «job-id» is the job ID reported by the lpstat command.
The -o job-priority=NNN option tells CUPS to assign a priority to your job from 1 (lowest) to 100 (highest), which influences where the job appears in the print queue. Higher priority jobs are printed before lower priority jobs, however submitting a new job with a high priority will not interrupt an already printing job.
The -o outputorder=normal and -o outputorder=reverse options specify the order of the pages. Normal order prints page 1 first, page 2 second, and so forth. Reverse order prints page 1 last.
The -o page-ranges=pages option selects a range of pages for printing:
lp -o page-ranges=1 filename lp -o page-ranges=1-4 filename lp -o page-ranges=1-4,7,9-12 filename lpr -o page-ranges=1-4,7,9-12 filename
As shown above, the pages value can be a single page, a range of pages, or a collection of page numbers and ranges separated by commas. The pages will always be printed in ascending order, regardless of the order of the pages in the page-ranges option.
The default is to print all pages.
Note:
The page numbers used by page-ranges refer to the output pages and not the document’s page numbers. Options like number-up can make the output page numbering not match the document page numbers.
The -o number-up=value option selects N-Up printing. N-Up printing places multiple document pages on a single printed page. CUPS supports 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 16-Up formats; the default format is 1-Up:
lp -o number-up=1 filename lp -o number-up=2 filename lp -o number-up=4 filename lpr -o number-up=16 filename
The -o page-border=value option chooses the border to draw around each page:
- -o page-border=double ; draw two hairline borders around each page
- -o page-border=double-thick ; draw two 1pt borders around each page
- -o page-border=none ; do not draw a border (default)
- -o page-border=single ; draw one hairline border around each page
- -o page-border=single-thick ; draw one 1pt border around each page
The -o number-up-layout=value option chooses the layout of the pages on each output page:
- -o number-up-layout=btlr ; Bottom to top, left to right
- -o number-up-layout=btrl ; Bottom to top, right to left
- -o number-up-layout=lrbt ; Left to right, bottom to top
- -o number-up-layout=lrtb ; Left to right, top to bottom (default)
- -o number-up-layout=rlbt ; Right to left, bottom to top
- -o number-up-layout=rltb ; Right to left, top to bottom
- -o number-up-layout=tblr ; Top to bottom, left to right
- -o number-up-layout=tbrl ; Top to bottom, right to left
The -o fit-to-page option specifies that the document should be scaled to fit on the page:
lp -o fit-to-page filename lpr -o fit-to-page filename
The default is to use the size specified in the file.
Note:
This feature depends upon an accurate size in the print file. If no size is given in the file, the page may be scaled incorrectly!
The -o outputorder=reverse option will print the pages in reverse order:
lp -o outputorder=reverse filename lpr -o outputorder=reverse filename
Similarly, the -o outputorder=normal option will print starting with page 1:
lp -o outputorder=normal filename lpr -o outputorder=normal filename
The default is -o outputorder=normal for printers that print face down and -o outputorder=reverse for printers that print face up.
The -o mirror option flips each page along the vertical axis to produce a mirrored image:
lp -o mirror filename lpr -o mirror filename
This is typically used when printing on T-shirt transfer media or sometimes on transparencies.