The lpq command includes information for the AIX® Print Subsystem lpq and the System V Print Subsystem lpq.
AIX Print Subsystem lpq Command
Examines the spool queue.
The lpq command reports the status of the specified job or all jobs associated with the specified UserName and JobNumber variables. JobNumber variable specifies the number of the job in the spool queue that you want to view. A UserName variable specifies viewing the jobs for the name of the person who submitted the job to that queue.
The lpq command reports on any jobs currently in the default queue when invoked without any options. Parameters supplied that are not recognized as parameters are interpreted as user names or job numbers to filter out only those jobs of interest.
For each job submitted (each job called by the lpr command), the lpq command reports the user's name, current rank in the queue, the name of the job, the job identifier (a number that can be supplied to the lprm command for removing a specific job), and the total size in blocks. Normally, only as much information as will fit on one line is displayed. Job ordering depends on the algorithm used to scan the spooling directory and is supposed to be FIFO (first-in-first-out). File names making up a job may be unavailable (when the lpr command is used as a sink in a pipeline). In this case, the file is indicated as - (standard input).
The display generated by the lpq command contains two entries for remote queues. The first entry contains the client's local queue and local device name and its status information. The second entry follows immediately; it contains the client's local queue name (again), followed by the remote queue name. Any jobs submitted to a remote queue are displayed first on the local side and are moved to the remote device as the job is processed on the remote machine.
Since the status commands communicate with remote machines, the status display may occasionally appear to hang while waiting for a response from the remote machine. The command will eventually time out if a connection cannot be established between the two machines.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| -l | Generates the long output format. |
| + [ Number ] | Displays the spool queue until it empties. A Number variable is the time in seconds before the display regenerates. |
| -P Printer | Displays the spool queue for the printer specified by the Printer variable.
Note: Any destination command line options override both the LPDEST and the PRINTER environment variables. |
| -W | Displays a wide version of status information with longer queue names, device names, and job numbers. Longer job number information is available on AIX 4.3.2 and later. This flag cannot be used with the -l flag. If the -l flag and the -W flag are used simultaneously, the first one specified takes precedence. |
lpq -P lp0
This command displays a list similar to the following:
Queue Dev Status Job Files User PP % Blks CP Rnk
lp0 dlp0 running 39 motd guest 10 83 12 1 1lpq -W
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| /usr/bin/lpq | Contains the lpq command. |
| /usr/sbin/qdaemon | Contains the queuing daemon. |
| /etc/qconfig | Contains the queue configuration file. |
| /etc/qconfig.bin | Contains the digested, binary version of the /etc/qconfig file. |
| /var/spool/lpd/qdir/* | Contains queue requests. |
| /var/spool/lpd/stat/* | Contains information on the status of the devices. |
| /var/spool/qdaemon/* | Contains temporary copies of enqueued files. |
The lpr command, lprm command, lpstat command, qchk command.
The qconfig file.
Checking print job status (qchk command) in AIX Version 7.1 Operating system and device management.
Printers, print jobs, and queues in AIX Version 7.1 Operating system and device management.
Print spooler in theAIX Version 7.1 Printers and printing.
System V Print Subsystem lpq Command
(BSD) Displays the queue of printer jobs
/usr/bin/lpq [-Pprinter] [-l] [+ [interval] ] [job# ... ] [username ... ]
The lpq command displays the contents of a printer queue. It reports the status of jobs specified by job#, or all jobs owned by the user specified by username. lpq reports on all jobs in the default printer queue when invoked with no arguments.
For each print job in the queue, lpq reports the user's name, current position, the names of input files comprising the job, the job number (by which it is referred to when using lprm) and the total size in bytes. Normally, only as much information as will fit on one line is displayed. Jobs are normally queued on a first-in-first-out basis. Filenames comprising a job may be unavailable, such as when lpr is used at the end of a pipeline; in such cases the filename field indicates the standard input.
If lpq warns that there is no daemon present (that is, due to some malfunction), the lpc command can be used to restart a printer daemon.
Output formatting is sensitive to the line length of the terminal; this can result in widely-spaced columns.