PRINTCAP(5) PRINTCAP(5) NAME printcap - printer capability data base SYNOPSIS /etc/printcap DESCRIPTION _P_r_i_n_t_c_a_p is a simplified version of the _t_e_r_m_c_a_p(5) data base used to describe line printers. The spooling system accesses the _p_r_i_n_t_c_a_p file every time it is used, allowing dynamic addition and deletion of print‐ ers. Each entry in the data base is used to describe one printer. This data base may not be substituted for, as is possible for _t_e_r_m_c_a_p, because it may allow accounting to be bypassed. The default printer is normally _l_p, though the environment variable PRINTER may be used to override this. Each spooling utility supports an option, -P_p_r_i_n_t_e_r_, to allow explicit naming of a destination printer. Refer to the _4_._3_B_S_D _L_i_n_e _P_r_i_n_t_e_r _S_p_o_o_l_e_r _M_a_n_u_a_l for a complete discus‐ sion on how setup the database for a given printer. CAPABILITIES Refer to _t_e_r_m_c_a_p(5) for a description of the file layout. Name Type Default Description af str NULL name of accounting file br num none if lp is a tty, set the baud rate (ioctl call) cf str NULL cifplot data filter df str NULL tex data filter (DVI format) fc num 0 if lp is a tty, clear flag bits (sgtty.h) ff str ‘‘\f’’ string to send for a form feed fo bool false print a form feed when device is opened fs num 0 like ‘fc’ but set bits gf str NULL graph data filter (plot (3X) format) hl bool false print the burst header page last ic bool false driver supports (non standard) ioctl to indent printout if str NULL name of text filter which does accounting lf str ‘‘/dev/console’’ error logging file name lo str ‘‘lock’’ name of lock file lp str ‘‘/dev/lp’’ device name to open for output mx num 1000 maximum file size (in BUFSIZ blocks), zero = unlimited nd str NULL next directory for list of queues (unimplemented) nf str NULL ditroff data filter (device independent troff) of str NULL name of output filtering program pc num 200 price per foot or page in hundredths of cents pl num 66 page length (in lines) pw num 132 page width (in characters) px num 0 page width in pixels (horizontal) py num 0 page length in pixels (vertical) rf str NULL filter for printing FORTRAN style text files rg str NULL restricted group. Only members of group allowed access rm str NULL machine name for remote printer rp str ‘‘lp’’ remote printer name argument rs bool false restrict remote users to those with local accounts rw bool false open the printer device for reading and writing sb bool false short banner (one line only) sc bool false suppress multiple copies sd str ‘‘/usr/spool/lpd’’ spool directory sf bool false suppress form feeds sh bool false suppress printing of burst page header st str ‘‘status’’ status file name tf str NULL troff data filter (cat phototypesetter) tr str NULL trailer string to print when queue empties vf str NULL raster image filter xc num 0 if lp is a tty, clear local mode bits (tty (4)) xs num 0 like ‘xc’ but set bits If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon must understand how to invoke it. FILTERS The _l_p_d(8) daemon creates a pipeline of _f_i_l_t_e_r_s to process files for various printer types. The filters selected depend on the flags passed to _l_p_r(1). The pipeline set up is: -p pr | if regular text + _p_r(1) none if regular text -c cf cifplot -d df DVI (tex) -g gf _p_l_o_t(3) -n nf ditroff -f rf Fortran -t tf troff -v vf raster image The if filter is invoked with arguments: _i_f [ -c ] -wwidth -llength -iindent -n login -h host acct-file The -c flag is passed only if the -l flag (pass control characters lit‐ erally) is specified to _l_p_r. _W_i_d_t_h and _l_e_n_g_t_h specify the page width and length (from pw and pl respectively) in characters. The -n and -h parameters specify the login name and host name of the owner of the job respectively. _A_c_c_t_-_f_i_l_e is passed from the af _p_r_i_n_t_c_a_p entry. If no if is specified, of is used instead, with the distinction that of is opened only once, while if is opened for every individual job. Thus, if is better suited to performing accounting. The of is only given the _w_i_d_t_h and _l_e_n_g_t_h flags. All other filters are called as: _f_i_l_t_e_r -xwidth -ylength -n login -h host acct-file where _w_i_d_t_h and _l_e_n_g_t_h are represented in pixels, specified by the px and py entries respectively. All filters take _s_t_d_i_n as the file, _s_t_d_o_u_t as the printer, may log either to _s_t_d_e_r_r or using _s_y_s_l_o_g(3), and must not ignore SIGINT. LOGGING Error messages generated by the line printer programs themselves (that is, the _l_p* programs) are logged by _s_y_s_l_o_g(3) using the _L_P_R facility. Messages printed on _s_t_d_e_r_r of one of the filters are sent to the corre‐ sponding lf file. The filters may, of course, use _s_y_s_l_o_g themselves. Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line feed appended to them, rather than just a line feed. SEE ALSO termcap(5), lpc(8), lpd(8), pac(8), lpr(1), lpq(1), lprm(1) _4_._3_B_S_D _L_i_n_e _P_r_i_n_t_e_r _S_p_o_o_l_e_r _M_a_n_u_a_l 4.2 Berkeley Distribution May 14, 1986 PRINTCAP(5)