1PRINTCAP(5) File Formats Manual PRINTCAP(5)
2
6 printcap - printer capability data base
7
9 /etc/printcap
10
12 Printcap is a simplified version of the termcap(5) data base used to
13 describe line printers. The spooling system accesses the printcap file
14 every time it is used, allowing dynamic addition and deletion of print‐
15 ers. Each entry in the data base is used to describe one printer.
16 This data base may not be substituted for, as is possible for termcap,
17 because it may allow accounting to be bypassed.
18 The default printer is normally lp, though the environment variable
20 PRINTER may be used to override this. Each spooling utility supports
21 an option, -Pprinter, to allow explicit naming of a destination
22 printer.
23 Refer to the 4.3BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual for a complete discus‐
25 sion on how setup the database for a given printer.
26
28 Refer to termcap(5) for a description of the file layout.
29 Name Type Default Description
31 af str NULL name of accounting file
32 br num none if lp is a tty, set the baud rate (ioctl call)
33 cf str NULL cifplot data filter
34 df str NULL tex data filter (DVI format)
35 fc num 0 if lp is a tty, clear flag bits (sgtty.h)
36 ff str ``\f'' string to send for a form feed
37 fo bool false print a form feed when device is opened
38 fs num 0 like `fc' but set bits
39 gf str NULL graph data filter (plot (3X) format)
40 hl bool false print the burst header page last
41 ic bool false driver supports (non standard) ioctl to indent printout
42 if str NULL name of text filter which does accounting
43 lf str ``/dev/console'' error logging file name
44 lo str ``lock'' name of lock file
45 lp str ``/dev/lp'' device name to open for output
46 mx num 1000 maximum file size (in BUFSIZ blocks), zero = unlimited
47 nd str NULL next directory for list of queues (unimplemented)
48 nf str NULL ditroff data filter (device independent troff)
49 of str NULL name of output filtering program
50 pc num 200 price per foot or page in hundredths of cents
51 pl num 66 page length (in lines)
52 pw num 132 page width (in characters)
53 px num 0 page width in pixels (horizontal)
54 py num 0 page length in pixels (vertical)
55 rf str NULL filter for printing FORTRAN style text files
56 rg str NULL restricted group. Only members of group allowed access
57 rm str NULL machine name for remote printer
58 rp str ``lp'' remote printer name argument
59 rs bool false restrict remote users to those with local accounts
60 rw bool false open the printer device for reading and writing
61 sb bool false short banner (one line only)
62 sc bool false suppress multiple copies
63 sd str ``/usr/spool/lpd'' spool directory
64 sf bool false suppress form feeds
65 sh bool false suppress printing of burst page header
66 st str ``status'' status file name
67 tf str NULL troff data filter (cat phototypesetter)
68 tr str NULL trailer string to print when queue empties
69 vf str NULL raster image filter
70 xc num 0 if lp is a tty, clear local mode bits (tty (4))
71 xs num 0 like `xc' but set bits
72 If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon must
74 understand how to invoke it.
75
77 The lpd(8) daemon creates a pipeline of filters to process files for
78 various printer types. The filters selected depend on the flags passed
79 to lpr(1). The pipeline set up is:
80 -p pr | if regular text + pr(1)
82 none if regular text
83 -c cf cifplot
84 -d df DVI (tex)
85 -g gf plot(3)
86 -n nf ditroff
87 -f rf Fortran
88 -t tf troff
89 -v vf raster image
90 The if filter is invoked with arguments:
92 if [ -c ] -wwidth -llength -iindent -n login -h host acct-file
94 The -c flag is passed only if the -l flag (pass control characters lit‐
96 erally) is specified to lpr. Width and length specify the page width
97 and length (from pw and pl respectively) in characters. The -n and -h
98 parameters specify the login name and host name of the owner of the job
99 respectively. Acct-file is passed from the af printcap entry.
100 If no if is specified, of is used instead, with the distinction that of
102 is opened only once, while if is opened for every individual job.
103 Thus, if is better suited to performing accounting. The of is only
104 given the width and length flags.
105 All other filters are called as:
107 filter -xwidth -ylength -n login -h host acct-file
109 where width and length are represented in pixels, specified by the px
111 and py entries respectively.
112 All filters take stdin as the file, stdout as the printer, may log
114 either to stderr or using syslog(3), and must not ignore SIGINT.
115
117 Error messages generated by the line printer programs themselves (that
118 is, the lp* programs) are logged by syslog(3) using the LPR facility.
119 Messages printed on stderr of one of the filters are sent to the corre‐
120 sponding lf file. The filters may, of course, use syslog themselves.
121 Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line
123 feed appended to them, rather than just a line feed.
124
126 termcap(5), lpc(8), lpd(8), pac(8), lpr(1), lpq(1), lprm(1)
127 4.3BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual
1284.2 Berkeley Distribution May 14, 1986 PRINTCAP(5)