lpq \- spool queue examination program
[ +[ n ] ] [ -l ] [ \-Pprinter ] [ job # ... ] [ user ... ]
examines the spooling area used by
files on the line printer, and reports the status of the specified jobs or
all jobs associated with a user.
invoked without any arguments
reports on any jobs currently in the queue. A
to specify a particular printer, otherwise the default line printer
is used (or the value of the PRINTER variable in the environment).
displays the spool queue until it empties. Supplying a number
should sleep \fIn\fR seconds in between scans of the queue.
All other arguments supplied are
interpreted as user names or job numbers to filter out only those
For each job submitted (i.e. invocation of
reports the user's name, current rank in the queue, the
names of files comprising the job, the job identifier (a number which
for removing a specific job), and the total size in bytes.
option causes information about each of the files comprising the job
Normally, only as much information as will fit on one line is displayed.
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
is used as a sink in a pipeline) in which case the file
is indicated as ``(standard input)".
warns that there is no daemon present (i.e. due to some malfunction),
command can be used to restart the printer daemon.
/etc/termcap for manipulating the screen for repeated display
/etc/printcap to determine printer characteristics
/usr/spool/* the spooling directory, as determined from printcap
/usr/spool/*/cf* control files specifying jobs
/usr/spool/*/lock the lock file to obtain the currently active job
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 results in widely spaced columns.
Unable to open various files. The lock file being malformed. Garbage
files when there is no daemon active, but files in the spooling directory.