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As mentioned earlier, when you use the
lp
command to send a print request to a printer, you are actually sending
it to a print queue. The print queue is a special directory that is
stored on the hard disk of your workstation or of a remote network
server. Since printers do not have hard disks to store documents, all
requests or print jobs must be spooled or go to the queue first. If
the printer is available, the request is serviced immediately. If the
printer is busy, the request is queued until the printer is available.
On large networks with centralized printers, print queues can become
quite large with many print jobs waiting to be printed. An administrator
can monitor and manage the print queues for multiple printers.
The lpstat
(line printer status)
command is used to display the status of the printer queue. To see the
print requests for a specific printer, use the basic form of the
command, which specifies the printer name or queue to display. The
basic command and an explanation of the output is shown in Figure .
Figure
shows the options available with the lpstat
command and Figure
shows examples using the command.
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