PRINTCAP(5) — FILE FORMATS

NAME

printcap − printer capability data base

SYNOPSIS

/etc/printcap

DESCRIPTION

printcap is a simplified version of the termcap(5) data base for describing printers. The spooling system accesses the printcap file every time it is used, allowing dynamic addition and deletion of printers. Each entry in the data base describes one printer. This data base may not be substituted for, as is possible for termcap, because it may allow accounting to be bypassed.

The default printer is normally lp, though the environment variable PRINTER may be used to override this. Each spooling utility supports a −Pprinter option to explicitly name a destination printer.

Refer to System and Network Administration for a discussion of how to set up the database for a given printer. On Sun386i systems, refer to snap(1) for information on setting up printers with the system and network administration program.

Each entry in the printcap file describes a printer, and is a line consisting of a number of fields separated by ‘:’ characters. The first entry for each printer gives the names which are known for the printer, separated by ‘|’ characters. The first name is conventionally a number. The second name given is the most common abbreviation for the printer, and the last name given should be a long name fully identifying the printer. The second name should contain no blanks; the last name may well contain blanks for readability. Entries may continue onto multiple lines by giving a ‘\’ as the last character of a line, and empty fields may be included for readability.

Capabilities in printcap are all introduced by two-character codes, and are of three types:

Boolean Capabilities that indicate that the printer has some particular feature. Boolean capabilities are simply written between the ‘:’ characters, and are indicated by the word ‘bool’ in the type column of the capabilities table below.

Numeric Capabilities that supply information such as baud-rates, number of lines per page, and so on. Numeric capabilities are indicated by the word num in the type column of the capabilities table below. Numeric capabilities are given by the two-character capability code followed by the ‘#’ character, followed by the numeric value. For example:

:br#1200:

is a numeric entry stating that this printer should run at 1200 baud.

String Capabilities that give a sequence which can be used to perform particular printer operations such as cursor motion. String valued capabilities are indicated by the word str in the type column of the capabilities table below. String valued capabilities are given by the two-character capability code followed by an ‘=’ sign and then a string ending at the next following ‘:’. For example,

:rp=spinwriter:

is a sample entry stating that the remote printer is named spinwriter.

Sun386i DESCRIPTION

On Sun386i systems, lpr(1) and related printing commands use the Yellow Pages name service to obtain the printcap entry for a named printer if the entry does not exist in the local /etc/printcap file. For example, when a user issues the command

lpr -Pnewprinter foo

lpr searches /etc/printcap on the local system for an entry for newprinter. If no local entry for newprinter exists, then lpr searches the YP map called printcap. The search is invisible to the user.

lpr creates the spooling directory for the printer automatically if no spooling directory exists.

System administrators can make a printer available to the entire YP domain by placing an entry for that printer in the YP printcap map, typically using snap. Otherwise, the system administrator must edit the /etc/printcap file on the YP master and then rebuild the YP map.

CAPABILITIES

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)
du	str	0	User ID of user ‘daemon’.
fc	num	0	if lp is a tty, clear flag bits
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 input/communication filter (created per job)
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
mc	num	0	maximum number of copies
ms	str	NULL	list of terminal modes to set or clear
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/banner filter (created once)
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 printer device read/write instead of read-only
sb	bool	false	short banner (one line only)
sc	bool	false	suppress multiple copies
sd	str	“/var/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
tc	str	NULL	name of similar printer; must be last
tf	str	NULL	troff data filter (C/A/T 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
xs	num	0	like ‘xc’ but set bits

If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon must understand how to invoke it.

Note: the fs, fc, xs, and xc fields are flag masks rather than flag values. Certain default device flags are set when the device is opened by the line printer daemon if the device is connected to a terminal port. The flags indicated in the fc field are then cleared; the flags in the fs field are then set (or vice-versa, depending on the order of fc#nnnn and fs#nnnn in the /etc/printcap file). The bits cleared by the fc field and set by the fs field are those in the sg_flags field of the sgtty structure, as set by the TIOCSETP ioctl call, and the bits cleared by the xc field and set by the xs field are those in the “local flags” word, as set by the TIOCLSET ioctl call. See ttcompat(4M) for a description of these flags. For example, to set exactly the flags 06300 in the fs field, which specifies that the EVENP, ODDP, and XTABS modes are to be set, and all other flags are to be cleared, do:

:fc#0177777:fs#06300:

The same process applies to the xc and xs fields. Alternatively, the ms field can be used to specify modes to be set and cleared. These modes are specified as stty(1V) modes; any mode supported by stty may be specified, except for the baud rate which must be specified with the br field. This permits modes not supported by the older terminal interface described in ttcompat(4M) to be set or cleared. Thus, to set the terminal port to which the printer is attached to even parity, tab expansion, no newline to carriage-return/line-feed translation, and RTS/CTS flow control enabled, do:

:ms=evenp,-tabs,nl,crtscts:

On Sun386i systems, the tc field, as in the termcap(5) file, must appear last in the list of capabilities. It is recommended that each type of printer have a general entry describing common capabilities; then an individual printer can be defined with its particular capabilities plus a tc field that points to the general entry for that type of printer.

FILES