Printing on Linux

This is a short guide to printing on Linux using shell commands.

Shell Commands

The following commands are available on the shell to print and control print jobs:

CommandSorted descending Description Example
  List options one printer lpoptions -p card-ethz
  Change default printer lpoptions -d card-ethz
lpstat Show all printers lpstat -p
lpq Show queued print jobs lpq
lpoptions List printer options lpoptions
lp Print files lp text.ps
cancel Cancel a print job cancel card-ethz-131

Run man <command> in a shell to get more information on each of the commands above.

Content Type

Please note that the printers will detect PostScript and PDF that is printed from command line and print it as such. All other content is printed as text.

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2024-04-23
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