11.2 Command Line Printing
11.2.1 The lp print spooler

Printing of ASCII text or PostScript™ files can be done from the command line using the lp (Line Printer) command. Do not use this method to print data files (files created in applications like FrameMaker or Sun's Star Office) or binary files. The function of the lp command is to queue data for printing. The Berkeley version of UNIX uses a variation of the lp command known as lpr print spooler. The Solaris computing environment supports the lp print spooler. Figure shows the options available for use with the lp command.
Command Format:
lp [ -options ] [ filename(s) ]

Sending Files to a Printer
Figure shows some examples using the lp command with various options to print files. The first example sends a file from the user's home directory (~) to the default printer, which is printer1. An administrator must set up the default printer in advance. The -7 after the printer name indicates that this is the seventh print job received since the printer came online. Although this example prints only one file, it is possible to send multiple files simultaneously to the printer and wildcard metacharacters such as * and ? can also be used.
Interactive Media Activity (Flash, 95 kB)
  Using the lp command

In this media activity, you are logged in as user2 and your current working directory is /home/user2/dir2. Type the commands that would accomplish the following objectives.
Note: Be sure to press enter after each one. Click on step 1 to begin.