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:
lp filename lpr filename
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:
lpstat -p -d
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:
lp -d printer filename
or the -P option with the lpr command:
lpr -P printer filename
If you normally use a particular printer, you can tell CUPS to use it by default using the lpoptions(1) command:
lpoptions -d printer
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
The available printer options vary depending on the printer. The standard options are described in the "Standard Printing Options" section below. Printer-specific options are also available and can be listed using the lpoptions command:
lpoptions -p printer -l
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:
cancel job-id lprm job-id
The job-id is the number that was reported to you by the lp command. You can also get the job ID using the lpq(1) or lpstat commands:
lpq lpstat
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:
/usr/sbin/lpmove foo-123 bar
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 (8.5x11 inches, or 216x279mm)
Legal - US Legal (8.5x14 inches, or 216x356mm)
A4 - ISO A4 (8.27x11.69 inches, or 210x297mm)
COM10 - US #10 Envelope (9.5x4.125 inches, or
241x105mm)
DL - ISO DL Envelope (8.66x4.33 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
The actual options supported are defined in the printer's PPD
file in the PageSize, InputSlot, and
MediaType options. You can list them using the
lpoptions(1) command:
lpoptions -p printer -l
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.
The -o landscape option will rotate the page 90
degrees to print in landscape orientation:
lp -o landscape filename lpr -o landscape filename
The -o orientation-requested=N option rotates the
page depending on the value of N:
-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.
The -o job-hold-until=when option tells CUPS to
delay printing until the "when" time, which can be one of the
following:
-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 timeAside from the web interface, you can use the lp command to release a held job:
lp -i job-id -H resume
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-rangesrefer to the output pages and not the document's page numbers. Options likenumber-upcan 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 pageThe -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 leftThe -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.