Monitoring Printing

To check the default print queue, we can use the lpq comand:

$lpq
lp is ready and printing
Rank   Owner      Job  Files                                 Total Size
active markst     35   book.ps                               39597 bytes
1st    markst     36   ex1/ex1.dvi                           3400 bytes
$

If we want to check another printer queue, we can again add the -P flag:

$lpq -Praw
waiting for raw to become ready (offline ?)
Rank   Owner      Job  Files                                 Total Size
1st    markst     0    ex1/ex1.dvi                           3400 bytes
$

We also gain some status information from the lpq command. It tells us if a printer is printing, currently off-line, or if data is being sent to a remote printer.