4.2BSD/usr/man/man1/lpq.1

.TH LPQ 1 "18 July 1983"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
lpq \- spool queue examination program
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B lpq
[ +[ n ] ] [ -l ] [ \-Pprinter ] [ job # ... ] [ user ... ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I lpq
examines the spooling area used by
.IR lpd (8)
for printing
files on the line printer, and reports the status of the specified jobs or
all jobs associated with a user. 
.I lpq
invoked without any arguments
reports on any jobs currently in the queue.  A
.B \-P
flag may be used
to specify a particular printer, otherwise the default line printer
is used (or the value of the PRINTER variable in the environment).
If a
.B \+
argument is supplied,
.I lpq
displays the spool queue until it empties.  Supplying a number
immediately after the
.B \+
sign indicates that
.I lpq
should sleep \fIn\fR seconds in between scans of the queue.
All other arguments supplied are
interpreted as user names or job numbers to filter out only those
jobs of interest.
.PP
For each job submitted (i.e. invocation of 
.IR lpr (1))
.I lpq
reports the user's name, current rank in the queue, the
names of files comprising the job, the job identifier (a number which
may be supplied to
.IR lprm (1)
for removing a specific job), and the total size in bytes.
The
.B \-l
option causes information about each of the files comprising the job
to be printed.
Normally, only as much information as will fit on one line is displayed.
Job ordering is dependent on
the algorithm used to scan the spooling directory and is supposed
to be FIFO (First in First Out).
File names comprising a job may be unavailable
(when
.IR lpr (1)
is used as a sink in a pipeline) in which case the file
is indicated as ``(standard input)".
.PP
If
.I lpq
warns that there is no daemon present (i.e. due to some malfunction),
the
.IR lpc (8)
command can be used to restart the printer daemon.
.SH FILES
.nf
.ta \w'/etc/termcap            'u
/etc/termcap	for manipulating the screen for repeated display
/etc/printcap	to determine printer characteristics
/usr/spool/*	the spooling directory, as determined from printcap
/usr/spool/*/cf*	control files specifying jobs
/usr/spool/*/lock	the lock file to obtain the currently active job 
.fi
.SH "SEE ALSO"
lpr(1),
lprm(1),
lpc(8),
lpd(8)
.SH BUGS
Due to the dynamic nature of the information in the spooling directory
lpq may report unreliably.
Output formatting is sensitive to the line length of the terminal;
this can results in widely spaced columns.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
Unable to open various files.  The lock file being malformed.  Garbage
files when there is no daemon active, but files in the spooling directory.