The Linux lp printing command

The lp command is used to print files on Unix and Linux systems. The name "lp" stands for "line printer". As with most Unix commands there are a fairly large number of options available to enable flexible printing capabilities.

Let's look at some lp printing commands examples.

Linux lp printing command examples

lp /etc/passwd

This command prints the "/etc/passwd" file to the default printer. If you do not use the "-d" option, the file is printed to the default printer destination.

lp -dSales .profile

This command prints the ".profile" file to the printer named "Sales". The -d option specifies the destination.

lp -dSales file1 file2 file3

This command prints the three files "file1", "file2", and "file3" to the printer named "Sales".

lp -i Sales-101 -H hold

This command places the print request Sales-101 on hold.

lp -i Sales-101 -H resume

This command resumes the print request Sales-101. The print request starts printing from page one unless you instruct it otherwise.

lp -i Sales-101 -H resume -P 4-

This command resumes the print request Sales-101, starting with page 4 of the print job. Note that the final hyphen (following the "4") is required.

The "lp" command can also be used as part of a pipeline. For instance, the following command will print the output of the "ps -ef" command to the default printer:

ps -ef | lp

Print the output of the "ps -ef" command to the default printer.