How to view printer status from the UNIX command line.

How can I view printer status information from the UNIX command line?

You can use the following commands to display information and printer status or copy it to a file.

• Viewing the Print Job Status with lpq and lpstat
  

  • BSD UNIX workstation, Linux
    % lpq -Pprinter_name
  • System V UNIX, Solaris, HP-UX
    % lpstat -o printer_name
    If you are using HP-UX, do not put a space between "-o" and "printer name".


• Viewing the Printer Status with rsh and ftp
  

  • rsh
    % rsh host_name parameter
    If your workstation is HP-UX, use the remsh command instead of rsh.
  • ftp
    % ftp host_name
User user_name
password:
ftp> get parameter -
    Leave the user name and password blank.
    "-" indicates standard output.
  • The following parameters can be used with rsh, rcp, and ftp:
    

    • stat returns the status of the device and information about print jobs.
    • info returns information about the paper tray, output tray and printer language.
    • prnlog returns a record of the last 10 print jobs.
    • syslog returns messages about the network infterface board.


• Copying Information to a File
  

  • rcp
    % rcp host_name:parameter file_name
  • ftp
    % ftp host_name
User: user_name
password:
ftp> get parameter file_name
    Leave the user name and password blank.